Pieces
by carolinaheart
Summary: Addison left Seattle so Derek could be happy, taking with her a piece of him he didn't know was missing. MerDer, Bang AddiOC, Addek friendship. It is done reviews are still welcome. If asked nicely I may wirte an epilogue.
1. Prologue

I personally like Addison, a lot. But this is not and Addison Derek story. Derek and Meredith will be a couple in the story. However, the focus is not on them and their relationship. You'll just have to read and find out.

Addison sat in the trailer waiting for Derek. She had been terrified when she heard the bomb go off on the surgical floor. All she could think about was losing her husband. She looked around the empty trailer staring at the opposite wall knowing what she didn't want to admit—she had already lost him. His absence in their trailer now was proof. _Tomorrow I'll call my lawyer._ Addison thought to herself. She knew Derek was not all there when they were together and that he was not happy. As much as she wanted to work it out, she wanted Derek to be happy more.

"Hi," Derek said walking into the trailer letting the door slam behind him.

"Hi," Addison as she looked up at Derek. She saw the sad look in his eyes like he had lost his best friend. "I'm going to bed I ordered Chinese food earlier it's cold now." She said standing up and walking to the bedroom in the back of the trailer.

"Ok," Derek fixed himself a plate and sat down at the table, thinking not of the woman that shared his bed, but the one that shared his heart, Meredith. He'd almost lost her today, physically. Sometimes he wished he had just signed the divorce papers. If he had everything would be different.

A week after the code black things on the surgical was beginning to show some trivial signs of normalcy. The board was filling up with surgical cases and everyone was getting over the fact that they all could have died.

Wanting to try and mend his relationship with his wife faster, Derek went in search of Addison, hoping to have lunch with her. He could not find her anywhere, and no one had seen her through out the day.

He went home to his trailer that evening looking forward to a good nights rest. When he stepped into the small mobile home he realized that something was different. He looked around trying to pinpoint what it was. When he walked into the bedroom he saw a brown envelope laying on the bed on top of it was a smaller white envelope with his name written on it in Addison's loopy cursive. He opened the envelope to find a letter from Addison.

_Derek,_

_We've been through a lot of things together, but overcoming adultery is one thing that we can't seem to overcome. I know what I did was wrong, and I have told you a thousand times how sorry I am, how much it meant absolutely nothing. _

_When I first came to Seattle it was partly for the job, and partly to try and win back your trust and love. In the time we were separated you fell in love with someone else. Being the gentleman that you are, when offered the choice to try and work it out with me, or to end our marriage to have a relationship with me, you stuck it out trying to regain what we once had. _

_Lately it has become even clearer that you're not happy with me, and as long as we are together you never will be. I don't want to be married to a man who doesn't love me—I can't handle it anymore. I'll always love you, and nothing will change that, but it's obvious that we need to go our separate ways. In the brown envelope are divorce papers. I've already signed them, the places are marked where you need to sign them. I'm going home. I wish you the best with your endeavors in life. Don't let her get away; she loves you as much as I do. _

_Forever yours,_

Addison Montgomery Shepard 

After reading the letter Derek opened the brown envelope and took the papers back into the kitchen. _Her things are missing, that's what's different._ Derek thought to himself as he sat down to sign the papers. Addison was right when she said that he was in love with Meredith, but he still had feelings for his soon-to-be x-wife. He scribbled his last name on the papers, closing the door to the first part of his life while opening a new one.


	2. Heavily Broken

Hi this is not a new chapter I'm working on it. I just got a new CD, _The Secret Life of the Veronicas, _and the song _Heavily Broken _fits the way Addison felt in chapter one so here are the lyrics. You may hate me for posting this but it goes so well Addison's situation so without further ado here are the lyrics. By the way if I finish my AP American homework, that I had a week to do (but who does homework over a week long break anyway?) I'll write and post the next chapter. Thanks for the ideas.

**"Heavily Broken"**

Everyday I sit here waiting  
Everyday just seems so long  
And now I've had enough of all the hating  
Do we even care, it's so unfair  
Any day it'll all be over  
Everyday there's nothing new  
And now I just try to find some hope  
To try and hold onto  
But it starts again  
It'll never end

I'm heavily broken  
And I don't know what to do  
Can't you see that I'm choking  
And I can't even move  
When there's nothing left to say  
What can you do  
I'm heavily broken  
And there's nothing I can do

Almost giving up on trying  
Almost heading for a fall  
And now my mind is screaming out  
I've gotta keep on fighting  
But then again  
It doesn't end

I'm heavily broken  
And I don't know what to do  
Can't you see that I'm choking  
And I can't even move  
When there's nothing left to say  
What can you do?  
I'm heavily broken  
And there's nothing I can do  
And there's nothing I can do

Feels like I'm drowning  
I'm screaming for air  
(Screaming for air)  
Louder I'm crying  
And you don't even care

I'm heavily broken  
And I don't know what to do  
Can't you see that I'm choking  
And I can't even move  
(What can I do)  
When there's nothing left to say  
What can you do  
I'm heavily broken

I'm heavily broken  
And I don't know what to do  
Can't you see that I'm choking  
And I can't even move  
When there's nothing left to say  
What can you do  
I'm heavily broken _x3_


	3. Phone Conversations

I forgot to write a disclaimer. Believe me I don't own a thing I'm only 16. Morgan, Hailey and Laura are original characters. If you're an avid Grey's Anatomy watcher then you should know and figure out that William is the same William George Bailey Jones. His eventual personality will be completely my own creation.

Seventeen, soon to be eighteen, year old Morgan was on the phone with her best friend Hailey. The two girls had met eight years ago at a ballet summer camp in New York. Morgan lived in Seattle while Hailey lived in New York with her single mother. Both girls' parents' were skillful surgeons.

Morgan had called Hailey to make sure that she was still able to come to Seattle for Morgan's eighteenth birthday. She was excited that her birthday fell during both her and Hailey's spring break. In the eight years the girls had known each other, Hailey had never been to Seattle. Morgan could not wait until Hailey arrived. She had cleared her schedule making sure she would have the whole week to spend with Hailey.

"So are you counting down the days until I get there?" Hailey asked.

"Of course, there are "x" s on my calendar marking out each day that has past. Mostly that's the count down until my birthday, but your arrival is written in big, bold, purple letters." Morgan said.

"Good, I wouldn't want you forgetting that I am coming."

"How could I forget? You're my best friend. I've even created an award for the most wonderfully awesome friend, and guess who won. Come on you know the answer." Morgan said with a smile that Hailey could picture even from the other end of the country.

"I give up who won?" Hailey sighed being sarcastic.

"You of course. How could you not know? Who else would I choose to win the award huh?" Morgan laughed into the phone wishing that she were talking to her friend in person instead of on the phone.

"I don't know, maybe your little god sister you're always talking about." Hailey said.

"Laura? No way. I love her dearly but we are not that close." Morgan said. "On to a new topic. Have you decided where you are going to go to school?"

"I'm still not quite sure. I mean I love to dance and I got into Julliard, but I also was thinking about going into medicine. You know my mother is a surgeon." Hailey said. "What about you Morgan?"

"I got into Duke, you know the really good college in North Carolina. I want to be a doctor too, a surgeon. It's like everyone in my family is a surgeon. You know me, I absolutely love the field of medicine." Morgan said.

"Yeah, I do. I got into all of the colleges I applied to. I just haven't figured out which one I want to go to. Or what I want to do with my life." Hailey said exasperated at the thought that the rest of her life would begin in less than a year.

"Hailey you'll figure it out. We both will and on top of that we'll be best friends for life. You'll be the maid of honor at my wedding. Speaking of which, I've got to go. I don't mean to blow you off or anything but I have a date tonight with William. It is Valentine's Day and it's our two year anniversary."

"Yeah I know it's Valentine's Day. And Morgan Yang-Burke do not lie, you two have been 'together' since the day I met you at camp." Hailey reasoned.

"Correction Ms. Montgomery, I've been in love with him forever we've only been officially dating for two years." Morgan said correcting Hailey.

"Whatever, I'll let you go you've got to get ready for tonight. Tell Will I said hey. Bye Morgan."

"Bye Hailey." Morgan said hanging up the phone. She walked out of her room and into the kitchen where her dad was preparing a salad only like a surgeon and the son of a cook could.

"Hey Morgan," Preston said to his only child.

"Hi daddy. What's for dinner?" Morgan asked sitting down on a bar stool in front of the counter grabbing a carrot from the pile her father had made at the edge of the cutting board.

"Salad, and I ordered a pizza. Your mom is on call tonight."

"So it's just you, me and Will?" Morgan asked.

"Will? Why is he coming over?"

"Daddy, it is Valentine's Day, and we decided to stay in and keep you company," Morgan said smiling and snatching another carrot from the pile.

"Oh, when is he getting here? I forgot he was coming." Preston asked as he proceeded to cut up an onion.

"He'll be here in an hour. That's why I got off the phone with Hailey."

"How is Hailey any way?" Preston asked.

"She's fine, a little confused. She doesn't know what she wants to do. She got into Julliard but she is also looking into being a doctor. Personally I think she should dance. It's her passion and she is so graceful when she dances." Morgan said as she watched her father put the fresh cut vegetables into the bowl with the lettuce.

"I've got to call her mother tonight. She left me a message earlier today. Do you know what it's about?" Preston asked his daughter.

"No I don't. Sorry dad. Look I've to get ready. I'll be down when the pizza gets here." Morgan said.

An hour after Preston was sure Morgan and Will had settled onto the sofa watching a movie, he called Hailey's mother. The phone rang twice before it was answered.

"Hello?" the voice on the other line asked.

"Hi Addison it's Preston." For the eight years Hailey and Morgan had been friends, Preston had known exactly who Hailey was, the daughter of an old friends that had left Seattle to make her x-husbands life happier.

"Hey,"

"I got your message." Preston said.

"Oh, I was calling to let you know I am going to tell Hailey about her father. Since she will be there and it is time for her to know."

"Oh, do you want me to tell Derek or do you want his number?" Preston asked not knowing which would be better for Derek.

"I don't know. I'm thinking about purchasing a ticket for myself and come with Hailey and tell Derek in person. Dr. Holden, your actually wants me to come to Seattle Grace to help deliver a set of quadruplets. I don't know if I want to come on business though. I would have to spend a lot of time in Seattle and Hailey still has to go to school."

"The case sounds important, and I think you should tell Derek in person. He deserves to hear it from you and not over the phone. Your parents live in New York don't they?"

"Yeah they do. I didn't even think about that. I'll have to let Hailey know about the change in plans. I may even come a few days sooner than Hailey. I need all the lead I can get on working with the patient." Addison said making up her mind to take the temporary job in Seattle.

"Send me your flight information and I'll pick you up from the airport when you arrive." Preston said.

"Thank you Preston."

"You're welcome. I need to go. I'll see you when you get here."

"Bye." Both Addison and Preston hung up the phone thinking about what the immediate future would hold.

The wonderfully awesome friend award is one created by me and my good friend swiss. i kind of based Morgan's personality off of my own hence the use of the award. I hope you enjoy it.


	4. Addison's Arrival

Preston stood outside of the airport waiting for Addison Montgomery to come out. It had been a month since their conversation on the phone and Addison's flight was due to arrive at any moment.

Addison Montgomery pushed a strand of her red hair behind her ear as she walked out of the airport with her bags. She looked around until she spotted the tall handsome African American man that was going to take her to the hotel. After spotting Addison Preston waved his hand in the air and began to walk toward her.

"Hey Addison how was your flight?" Preston asked picking up her bags like a true gentleman.

"Nerve racking. All I could think about was what it would be like to be working in the same hospital as my x-husband again." Addison said as she followed Preston to the car.

"Everything will be fine. Have you caught up with Derek to figure out when you two will get together to discuss Hailey?" Preston asked putting the suitcase in the trunk of the car.

Addison watched the man who had become one of her closest friends since she had left Seattle. "No, he doesn't even know that I'm in town. I could not figure out how to tell him. Do I just call out of the blue and say 'Hi Derek its me your cheating x-wife. I have something I need to talk about with you. Will you meet with me sometime?'" Addison asked getting into the car.

"Not quite like that. But you should have given him a heads up at least. The man does not need you randomly showing up with this big secret you've kept from him since you left."

"I know you're right. I'll figure something out by the time Hailey gets here in a couple of days."

"How did she take the news?" Preston asked wondering if his own daughter knew.

"Pretty well I guess. She just said ok and 'I'll ask Morgan to introduce me.' I don't think she's told Morgan yet. I don't know why she would keep something like that from her best friend." Addison explained.

"Their teenage girls. We'll never figure it out. Have you rented a car yet?" Preston asked.

"Yeah I have to pick it up tomorrow afternoon. Do you think you would be able to drop me off?"

"I've got to work but Cristina might be able to drop you off." Preston said as he pulled up to the hotel. "This is it. Do you need any help getting your bags?"

"No, thanks for the ride." Addison got her bags out of the trunk and walked into the hotel.

After she got her key and settled into the spacious room, she called Hailey to inform her of her safe arrival.

"Hey mom!" Hailey said after she answered the phone.

"Hey Hails, I'm here. Preston picked me up and I'm at the hotel."

"Cool, Gram says hi. How is everyone?"

"I only saw Preston so if you're referring to Morgan I haven't talked to her yet." Addison said.

"Oh."

"Did you tell Morgan about your father?" Addison asked.

"No. I'll tell her when I get there. How's the weather?" Hailey said tactfully changing the topic.

"The weather is fine, Hailey. Look I need to look some things up I'll call you tomorrow. I love you."

"Love you too mom, bye." Hailey said as she hung up the phone.

The next morning Meredith Grey Shepard was walking through the halls of Seattle Grace Hospital's surgical floor. Not paying attention to where she was going, Meredith ran into a red headed doctor, who happened to also not be paying attention.

"I am so sorry," Meredith said as she began picking up her chart.

"No, I'm sorry it was my fault. I'm just a little nervous about being back here," said the other woman also on the floor gathering papers looked up to see whom it was that she had hit.

Meredith also looked up to find the face of the woman she thought only lived in the past. "Dr. Montgomery," Meredith said surprised to see her.

"Dr. Grey, I'm very sorry. I should have been looking where I was going." Addison said as she quickly picked up her files and walked back down the hall.

Meredith looked down the hall toward the fleeting figure of Addison Montgomery still shocked. After Addison could no longer be seen Meredith turned around once again to find herself in the arms of her husband Derek Shepard.

"Hey Mer are you okay?" Derek asked observing the stunned look of Meredith.

"Yeah I'm fine. I've got to go see a patient. We're still on for lunch right?" Meredith said collecting herself.

"Yes, lunch. I'll see you then." Derek said as he watched Meredith head down the hall.

During one of her coffee breaks Meredith went in search of Cristina. She found the other surgeon at the coffee station fixing herself a mug of coffee. "Cristina what are you doing tonight?" Meredith asked. Even though both women were married with children, the two friends still hung out every now and then. When either woman was having a problem, they would talk it out with each other.

"We'll I've got to take a friend to go get a car, and I have to go grocery shopping for this week. Morgan's best friend is coming into town for spring break." Cristina skillfully informed Meredith.

"Oh, well I'll call you tonight. We need to talk." Meredith said as she walked away from the station.

Later that night Cristina and Morgan were putting up the groceries when the phone rang.

"I'll get it mom. It might be Hailey or even better Will," Morgan said reaching for the cordless phone on the wall.

"Hello?" Morgan said into the phone.

"Hi Morgan is your mother there?" Meredith asked.

"Yeah, hold on" Morgan said walking over to her mother. "The phone is for you."

"Who is it?" Cristina asked?

"It's Aunt Meredith," Morgan said handing the phone over to her mother.

"Ok," Cristina said taking the phone out of her daughter's hand. "Hello," she said as she walked out of the kitchen and into her bedroom.

"Cristina, guess who showed up at the hospital today?" Meredith asked.

"I don't know,"

"Addison Shepard!" Meredith exclaimed. "Why would she be here?"

"Oh," Cristina said not knowing what to say. Meredith was her best friend, but Cristina knew that Derek should be the one to tell Meredith when he found out.

"Oh! Is that all you can say? My husband's first wife is here. The one who came and tried to win him back when she cheated on him. The woman who then left for only God knows what reason. Why would she be here? I don't understand." Meredith practically yelled into the phone.

"Calm down Meredith. You and I both know that Derek loves you. Why are you feeling so insecure? Meredith she isn't here to try and take him away from you, it has been almost nineteen years. Why would she come back now?" Cristina reasoned with the frantic woman on the other line.

"You're right. I know you're right. Wednesday is Morgan's family birthday dinner right?" Meredith asked changing the topic to something more bearable.

"Yes Wednesday night at Kanki, will you all be there?"

"Yes, Derek, Laura, Jake and I will all be there." Meredith confirmed.

"Good," Cristina said, not quite sure how the evening would turn out. Hailey would be in Seattle for three days before the dinner, but she did not know how Meredith would take the news once she found out.


	5. Hailey's Arrival

Derek was standing at the nurse's station looking over a patients chart when Meredith came up next to him sipping a cup of coffee.

"Derek, tonight I'm taking Laura to go get a gift for Morgan. That means you and Jake for a while. You'll need to cook something healthy no pizza tonight," Meredith said.

Addison watched the married couple interact knowing that what they were discussing was not related for work. Addison did not want to interrupt but she needed a nuro consult and soon.

"Okay Meredith, we'll have healthy food. We might even rent a…" Derek was interrupted when he looked up to find his x-wife standing behind Meredith holding a chart.

"Addison, what are you doing here?" Derek asked. Meredith turned around and faced the woman that her husband had been married to a long time ago.

"Working. I'm sorry to interrupt but I need a nuro consult. I have a patient who is going to deliver multiple babies. One of the babies has a neurological problem. I need you to talk to the mother." Addison said confidently. She worked hard to act like she normally would when talking to any other colleague.

"Okay, is that the chart?" Derek asked pointing to the chart in her hand.

"Yes," Addison answered as she handed over the clipboard.

Derek turned to Meredith; "I'll see you later. Duty calls," he smiled to her. He and Addison made their way to the patient's room.

After talking with the patient, Addison and Derek stepped outside. Derek started to head away from the room when Addison said his name.

"Derek,"

"Yes Dr. Montgomery?" Derek asked trying to keep the conversation professional. He may not be in love with the woman, but a person cannot spend eleven years with a person and not have any feelings for them.

"Derek, we need to talk." Addison told him.

"Addi, what is there to talk about other than work?" Derek asked.

"Derek this is important. Can we have lunch, this afternoon?" Addison asked.

Derek looked into Addison's pleading eyes knowing that what she had to say, probably really was important. "Okay, we can have lunch."

"Thank you Derek," Addison said walking away.

_What did I just get myself into? _Derek asked himself. _Isn't having lunch with my x-wife against some rule?_ Derek continued on the same train of thought until the lunch meeting between him and Addison.

Morgan and Will stood in the airport at the baggage claim waiting for Hailey.

"Tell me again Morgan, Why am I here?" Will asked.

"Because I asked you to be here and you love me." Morgan said as she stood on her tiptoes to kiss her boyfriend.

"Oh, my gosh you two need to get a room," Hailey said walking up behind her friend.

Morgan pulled away from Will and turned around to find she was looking into the blue eyes of her best friend.

"Hailey!" Morgan screamed as she wrapped her arms around the red head standing in front of her.

"It's so good to see you again. I can't believe I am finally here." Hailey said.

"I know. I'm so glad you're here. We need to get your bags." Morgan said grabbing Hailey's arm and pulling her toward the baggage claim conveyor belt.

Will stood behind and watched the two old friends talk.

"So Morgan that is Will. He does look good." Hailey teased.

"I've told you what he looks like, and I've sent you pictures of him and me together." Morgan said.

"I know, but I like to tease you." Hailey said.

"Which one is your bag?" Morgan said as she watched the different suitcases pass by.

"The green one." Hailey said. Both girls reached out to get the bag but neither of them got it. A hand reached between them and pulled the green bag off of the belt.

"Are you two ready to go?" Will asked as he put the bag on the floor next to his foot.

"Yeah, let's go." Morgan said.

The three of them walked out of the airport and to Will's car. As Will put the bag in the trunk Hailey and Morgan slid into the backseat.

"So what, am I a chauffer now?" Will asked getting into the driver's seat.

"No, Will." Morgan said.

"Hey can we stop by the hospital, I want to see my mom?"

"I've got to go to work so I'll drop you two off at Morgan's house and Morgan can take you from there. That way you can put your things down." Will said as he pulled into the Yang-Burke driveway.

Morgan took Hailey inside to put her bags up. She looked around her best friend's room while she was in the bathroom. Everything looked perfect to her. To Hailey, Morgan had everything most of all she had her dad._ It's now or never_. Hailey thought to herself as Morgan came out of the bathroom.

"You ready?" Morgan asked.

"My mom told me who my father is," Hailey said as she sat on her friend's bed eyes downcast playing with her fingers.

"Oh,"

"She used to work here for a little while at least. She had cheated on her husband, my dad, and came out here to win him back. She said he chose her over his current wife. They stayed together for a little while, long enough for her to get pregnant. Before she found out she was pregnant she left him. She didn't want to be in a relationship with someone who was in love with another woman." Hailey said looking up at her friend.

"So, your dad lives here?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah,"

"Do you know where he lives?" Morgan asked hoping that Hailey would be able to confront the father she never knew.

"No but you do," Hailey said. Morgan looked up at her best friend confused. "Your godmother Meredith is my step-mother. Derek Shepard is my father." Morgan was stunned into silence.

"Do you still want to go to the hospital?" Morgan asked when she got her thoughts together.

"Yeah, I do." Hailey said.

Morgan picked up her keys on the way out of the door. The two girls got into the car and drove to Seattle Grace.

Addison sat at one of the outside tables waiting for Derek. She picked at her salad with her fork trying to calm her nerves.

"Addison," Derek said sitting down across from the red headed woman.

Addison looked up and followed Derek to the seat with her eyes. "Thank you for agreeing to have lunch with me Derek. I know this must be as awkward for you as it is for me." Addison said once he had sat down.

"Awkward is not a strong enough word to describe this situation Addison."

"I guess not. So how have you been?" Addison asked.

"I've been fine,"

"Derek, are you happy?" Addison asked wanting to ensure that she had made the right decision all those years ago.

"Yes Addi, I am very happy. I never got a chance to tell you thank you." Derek said truly grateful to the woman who set before him.

"Good. All I ever wanted was for you to be happy. I'm glad Meredith makes you happy. You deserve it." Addison said looking into her hands.

"Addi, I know this is not why you asked me to eat lunch with you. What's going on?" Derek asked concerned.

"Derek there is something I need to tell you,"

"Well, Addi what is it?" Derek asked somewhat annoyed that Addison was delaying in sharing the "important" information.

Hailey and Christina were walking the surgical floor up and down looking for one of their parental figures.

"Where are they? They can't all be hiding." Hailey said as the passed the nurses' station for the fifth time. One of the nurses began to look at the two young women funny.

"I don't know, wait there is my mom." Morgan said as she walked toward the slender Asian woman.

"Hi mom," Morgan said.

"Morgan, Hailey what are you two doing here at the hospital?" Cristina asked, surprised to see her daughter and her daughter's best friend standing in front of her.

"Hi Aunt Meredith," Morgan said to the woman standing next to her mother before answering Cristina's question. "We are looking for Hailey's mom. Have you seen her?"

"Yes she's having lunch, and hello Hailey."

"Hi Dr. Yang." Hailey said and smiled at the other unfamiliar woman.

"Thanks mom," Morgan said as she pulled Hailey toward the cafeteria.

Addison began to answer Derek's question, "Derek I, we ha…" when she was interrupted by the sound of her name coming from her daughter.

"Mom!" Hailey said hugging her mother, "Morgan and I stopped by to let you know that, I made it in one piece."

"That's great, hi Morgan, but I was in the middle of something." Addison said as she looked over to Derek who was still sitting down.

The wheels in Derek's head began to turn. If it was the same Hailey that Morgan was always talking about, then Addison's daughter was eighteen. He began to do the math. Addison watched as everything came together in Derek's head at the same time Hailey's head was working out who her mother had been talking to.

Deciding that it was better to introduce the father and daughter sooner rather than later, Addison began to speak. "Derek this is Hailey my daughter, Hailey this is Derek your father."


	6. Girls

Okay, I lied. My AP Homework, not done. That's for tomorrow. Had to write new chapter. By the way the answer to the question of whether the story is AD or MD it is AD friendship but MD are married love each other all that wonderful stuff. But not the perfect marriage cause really I've never met a married couple that didn't argue every now and then, nothing is perfect. For all those Meredith haters there most likely will be times when you will have a legitimate reason for hating Meredith. And for the Meredith lovers there will be times when you'll love Meredith. I try to be realistic in my writing. But like I said before there is romance in the background but it is not the main focus.

-anglchild-

**Previously in Hailey's arrival:**

The wheels in Derek's head began to turn. If it was the same Hailey that Morgan was always talking about, then Addison's daughter was eighteen. He began to do the math. Addison watched as everything came together in Derek's head at the same time Hailey's head was working out who her mother had been talking to.

Deciding that it was better to introduce the father and daughter sooner rather than later, Addison began to speak. "Derek this is Hailey my daughter, Hailey this is Derek your father."

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Hailey stared at the man not knowing what to do. Addison stared at Derek trying to gage his reaction. Derek stared at Hailey taking in the young girls features from her red hair to her blue eyes. Morgan stared at all three people feeling like she did not fit with the current situation.

The four people stood staring at each other until Addison's pager went off.

"Hails, I gotta' go I'll see you later on tonight," Addison said as she turned to leave.

Being forced out of her trance, Hailey looked up at her mother. "Mom, what time will you be at the house? We are going to order pizza."

"It doesn't matter what time you order, Morgan's parents will be home," Addison said.

"Actually, they're both on call tonight," Morgan said.

Derek watched as the three women communicated with each other amazed at how all three of them had quickly returned to acting like everything was the same. Like nothing had changed. He watched as Addison left and Hailey, his daughter had also turned to go.

"Bye Uncle Derek," Morgan said before she left.

Startled out of his daze he gave a lopsided grin to his wife's goddaughter.

"Bye Morgan." He watched Morgan catch up with Hailey and he watched how the two best friends walked in sync with each other.

Morgan and Hailey returned to the house with four movies and a box of popcorn. "That was interesting," Morgan said as she took two bags of popcorn out of the new box and placed one in the microwave.

"That defiantly was not how I pictured meeting my dad." Hailey said as she fixed two glasses of water.

"Really, 'cause that is exactly how I pictured it would be," Morgan joked trying to lighten up the mood.

Hailey rolled her eyes at Morgan's lame attempt, "I can't believe my mother just introduced us like, I don't know colleges or friends." She said making her way to the overly stuffed sofa in front of the TV in the living room.

"Hailey, she didn't know what to do. Your dad's a doctor; he could have easily figured out that the timing was perfect. Everything would have worked out for your conception to be around the last time they saw each other." Morgan said after putting in a DVD, flopping down next to Hailey.

"I know, you're right Morgan. It just didn't feel right. I had everything planned out. What I would say when I met him, what I would ask." Hailey said.

"You still have the opportunity to do all of those things. He's probably still getting over the shock."

"I guess you're right," Hailey said as she leaned back into the sofa to enjoy the movie—_Aladdin_.

Derek had searched the hospital for the red head he had lunch with to no avail. He was furious. _Why did she hide her from me? Addison had no right at all to keep my firstborn a secret and raise her without me in New York City._ Derek thought as he changed into street clothes in the locker room. He yanked his shirt out of the locker when he heard the door open. He looked up and watched her walk in with Dr. Yang. The two women did not notice him until they heard him close the door to his locker.

"Addison I need to go check on a patient. If Morgan orders anchovies on the pizza again, you have my permission to throw her out of the attic window." Cristina said as she turned and walked out of the room.

As he stared at her, he began to calm down. "Did you know when you left?" Derek asked thinking that the best place to start was at the beginning.

"I guess I had an idea," Addison said as she sat down on the metal bench in front of the lockers. She leaned her head up against the cold metal.

"Then why did you leave?" Derek asked sitting down in front of his own locker a few feet away.

"I couldn't stay; you didn't want me to stay." Addison said, not believing they were having this particular conversation in a hospital locker room.

"You didn't know what I wanted Addison."

"Yes I did. You thanked me earlier for leaving. You know as well as I do that if I had stayed, you would not be happy. A child did not need to be brought up in that kind of home. I didn't want our child to grow up with her father resenting her because she was what kept him away from the woman he had fallen in love with."

"Addison, you don't know that was what I would feel. You assumed. When you make assumptions you make an ass out of yourself."

"I know that now." Addison said looking into her hands.

"You should have known that then. We as a couple may not have been able to work. I know that for us divorce was inevitable, but you should have at least given me the chance to determine that."

"I did give you that chance. When I first came to Seattle, I gave you that choice." Addison said her voice rising slightly.

"I mean a chance to see if we could overcome that glitch in our marriage. Not only that but a chance to be a father. You took my daughter away from me. How could you do that? Why would you do that Addison? Did you want to hurt me again, as much as I was hurting you at the time."

"I just wanted you to be happy Derek, that's all." Addison said as she felt a tear drop into her lap. She got up and opened her locker and removed her things. Addison then walked out of the locker room to the hospital exit.

Derek watched her leave realizing he was the father of not two, but three children, two of which were girls. Girls that he would have to walk down the aisle, girls who he would never let date, girls who could get hurt and end up in bad relationships, girls who could make bad decisions and end up pregnant, girls he would kill for, girls he would die for, girls he loved more than anything in the world, one of which he had not even said two words to.

**AN:** The whole girls… thing with the dating and stuff. Only daughter right here, the youngest with two older brothers, a daddy's girl. Uhuh and both brothers and dad all want to go to the prom with me, and then to college. Does anyone feel my pain?


	7. His Daughter

If I offend anyone in this chapter, I am extremely sorry. I personally don't shop stores like Lacoste and Abercombie. I'm not saying anything about people who wear those brands because a lot of my friends where them. It's just not me and I'm trying to get it across that it is not Morgan either. If anyone thinks that people with successful parents don't shop at the flea market and goodwill you should visit my school. I have even gotten a very cute sweater from there. Just my little warning.

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Derek was sitting in his living room going through the family album. He flipped through the pages at the different pictures of the stages of both Laura's and Jake's lives. The very first one in the album was of him and Meredith at the hospital after Laura's birth. They were ecstatic that Laura's birth mother had let them be apart of the most important moment in Laura's life. Both of their children had been adopted as babies, Laura as a newborn and Jake as an eight week old. The couple had tried to conceive several times after they had gotten married, but they obtained no success. After four years of trying, the couple decided to adopt. They were lucky, they had found a young woman, very soon after they had made the decision, who was going to put her child up for adoption.

Derek continued to flip through the album stopping at a picture of Laura and Jake earlier that year on Laura's thirteenth birthday. It was hard for him to believe that his little girl was a teenager. As he stared at the picture he began to wonder what Hailey's life had been like. He hadn't been there to teach her all of the important things in life, like staying away from teenage boys.

Staring at the photo album was how Meredith, Laura and Jake found him after returning home from the mall. Meredith had decided to take Jake along with them because he needed a new pair of shoes.

"Derek," Meredith said as she placed a hand on Derek's back, "are you alright?"

Derek looked up at his wife, "Yeah I'm fine." Derek said as he closed the album and went to put it back on a shelf.

Laura and six year old Jake came downstairs after they had put their bags up.

"Hi dad," Laura said as she kissed him on the cheek. "You'll never guessed what we picked out for Morgan!"

"What did you get her?" Derek asked as he watched his daughter sit down across the table from him.

"We got her the cutest pink dress from Abercombie!" Laura said excitedly.

Derek looked at his daughter with raised eyebrows, he new for a fact that Morgan had never even stepped foot in an Abercombie & Fitch store. She was the type of girl that did her shopping at the flea market or goodwill to create her own outfits. Even though she was a ballerina, she had never been that girly. She usually steered clear of anything pink especially if it was a dress. When Morgan did shop at the mall, she stayed out of stores like Abercombie and Lacoste. She always tried to find clothes at a reasonable price. "Laura is that really something Morgan would wear?"

"Of course it is daddy, she'll just love it I know she will." Laura said very confident in her answer.

"Hey dad," Jake said as he came out of the kitchen I got a new baseball mitt, can we play Saturday?" He asked.

"Sure, I don't see why not." Derek said.

Later that evening when the kids were in bed Derek sat in the bed once again looking at the family album. Meredith came in dressed in a pair of plaid pajama pants and her famous Dartmouth shirt and sat down next to him.

"Derek, are you sure you're okay. Ever since I got home you've been looking at our family pictures." Meredith said getting under the covers.

"I had lunch with Addison today," Derek said as a reply to her statement.

"You what!" Meredith asked jumping out of the bed to stand on her feet. "Why the hell would you have lunch with her Derek?"

"She asked me to Meredith that's why. I couldn't say no. I owed her at least lunch."

"Derek you owed her absolutely nothing. She was the one who cheated on you when you two were married. She left you after you two were back together, without even saying goodbye." Meredith said fuming.

"Meredith, she had left so that you and I could be together. I told you that." Derek said trying to defend a woman he had at one time loved.

"It doesn't matter Derek she hurt you. On top of that she forced her way back into your life then only to leave. Are you going to let her do that to you again, to us?" Meredith asked.

"Meredith she isn't forcing her way back into my life now. I'm letting her back in like I did back then, she gave me a choice."

"Why Derek. I bet the only reason she is here is to get you back. After eighteen years she realizes what a huge mistake she made by leaving and she wants you back." Meredith stated still standing now with her arms folded across her chest.

"Meredith, she is here for Morgan's birthday." Derek said not knowing how else to broach the subject of his biological daughter.

"Why would she be here for that? She doesn't even know Morgan. She's not even friends with Burke or Cristina. Why would she be here for Morgan's birthday?"

"About eight years ago she Preston and Cristina started to talk with each other again." Derek said giving as little information as possible.

"Why would Cristina do that, she's my best friend. Why wouldn't she tell me?" Meredith asked as she sat down on an armchair in their room.

"I don't know. But there is more," Derek said preparing to drop the bomb on Meredith.

"More?" Meredith questioned.

"Morgan met Hailey in New York eight years ago at a ballet camp and the two girls have been best friends ever since. Hailey's mother is Addison." Derek said hoping that his wife could do the math for herself.

Meredith looked up at him hoping that she was not about to hear what she knew she would be hearing.

"Hailey's my daughter. That is why I had lunch with Addison. She wanted to tell me that." Derek watched for Meredith's reaction hoping to get some feel for what was going through her head.

_How could that happen? How could _Satan_ have his child? I love him more than she ever did. I never cheated on him. I was faithful and this is how I get repaid, by finding out I have a stepdaughter my best friend knew I had._ Meredith thought to herself.

"Derek, I don't know what to say" Meredith said looking around the room at everything except her husband.

"I thought it would be better that you found out from me, instead of finding out at the dinner on Wednesday," Derek said.

"She's coming to the dinner too?" Meredith asked in disbelief. She felt like Addison had gained everything Meredith had except Derek. She had doc, her dog, and a relationship with Cristina and Burke and Derek's only biological child.

"Yes she's coming to dinner. She is the person Morgan stayed with all those times she went to New York. Apparently Morgan and Hailey are closer than sisters." Derek explained to Meredith.

"Oh," was all Meredith could say.

The two sat on opposite sides of the room for an hour before Meredith decided to go to bed. When she climbed in next to her husband she realized he was asleep. She had wanted to apologize for blowing up at him.

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Okay that's it. As far as Derek and Meredith's life you all probably want an explanation. I think that it adds more to the story if their children are adopted I guess it kind of balances out everyone's pain, everyone as in Meredith and Derek. As far as the dog, I feel more for Addison, I like her character a lot and the idea of her and Derek staying together and having a steagy relationship. However, I've come to accept the fact that Derek and Meredith are also good for each other. I guess you could say I like both Addison and Meredith. I have to thank Elm-tree10 for the adoption idea. The story will forever be MD but in the coming chapters you will see Derek and Addison trying to mend broken fences and be friends. Meredith and Addison may even come to tolerate each other or maybe even be friends, but I haven't thought that far ahead. I think this chapter is more of a hate Meredith one. But I promise love Meredith chapter is coming up. I hope I didn't loose any readers with this chapter although I may have with this AN. Oh and for the people reading my other story Morgan, I had gone on a little hiatus/hit a writers block, but I am trying to work on it any suggestions as to how to start up again would help. Anyway I've said toooo much already Good Night from anglchild.


	8. I don't have a name

Meredith felt terrible about how she reacted to her husband's news the night before. She loved her children dearly, but sometimes it was hard for her seeing other women learn they are pregnant, the fact that Jake and Laura were adopted, made her love them even more. The struggle that she and Derek had gone through while trying to get pregnant made the couple's relationship even stronger than it had been before.

As Meredith continued to get ready, Derek was helping Jake get dressed.

"Dad, how come Morgan is out of school this week?" The six year old asked. It was not that Jake didn't like school; he just wanted to be out when Morgan was out because his god sister would take care of them while their parents were at work.

"Because you and Morgan go to different schools." Derek answered as he pulled Jake's shoes out of the closet.

"I wish I went to the same school as Morgan. Then we would get out at the same time and she could watch us," Jake said putting his shoes on. Jake had always adored Morgan and vice versa. The two were very close.

"No you don't. When you get to be in her school, you have a lot of homework to do." Said Derek patting his son on the back and rustling his dark brown hair.

Both father and son walked out of the room and downstairs to eat breakfast. When they arrived Laura was already sitting down eating a bowl of oatmeal.

"Morning daddy," Laura said after she had swallowed a spoon of oatmeal.

"Good morning princess," Derek said as he leaned down and kissed his daughter on the cheek. "Jake what do you want for breakfast?"

"Ummm, oatmeal. The one with the dinosaur eggs in it." Jake said as he stood next to his father looking up into the pantry.

At that moment, Meredith walked into the kitchen dressed and ready for work. She put her bag down by the door before she went over to her son and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "Good morning Jake," She said afterwards as she headed for the empty coffee maker.

"Eww mom, nobody gets kissed by their mom's anymore." Jake said in the typical six-year-old fashion. He now stood in front of the microwave waiting for his oatmeal, behind Derek.

"Go sit down Jake, this is hot." Derek said as he walked over to the table to put the hot bowl on it.

"Good morning Meredith," Derek said as he walked over to give his wife a kiss.

Meredith turned around and smiled and leaned up to give her husband a kiss. As they separated they heard the usual chorus from Jake.

"Yuck, dad. Please don't do that in front of me." Jake said with a mouthful of oatmeal in his mouth.

"Jake, do not talk with your mouth open." Meredith said as she poured two cups of coffee, one for her and one for Derek.

Meredith looked down at her watch seeing the time. "Okay Jake your bus will be here any minuet. Do you have all of your things together?" Meredith asked as she placed the coffee mug on the counter.

"Yes," Jake said as he took one last bite from his bowel of oatmeal. He then got up and put his bowl in the sink. He walked over to his backpack and put it on his back. "I'm all set." He said as he stared at his parents.

"Alright then let's go." Meredith and Jake walked outside to stand on the corner with the other kids waiting for the bus.

"Laura are you ready to go?" Derek asked his daughter.

The brunette's brown eyes looked up at him and she smiled. "Yeah let me go get my purse."

Derek and Laura walked into the garage and got in the car. Laura went to a private school, so she did not take a bus to school like her little brother. As Derek pulled out of the driveway and into the street he thought to himself _I am proud that Meredith and I could keep the routine normal, even though we had an argument last night. _

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Addison worked through out the day like she normally would only trying to avoid Derek and Meredith when she once again ran into Meredith while she wasn't paying attention. She had been looking at another patients file trying to rule out different causes as to why the patient's 6-month pregnancy was going south.

"Clumsy me," Addison said after she ran into Meredith.

"Yes clumsy you," Meredith said with disdain in her voice, as she too picked up another file.

_Addi you've been successful in avoiding the Shepard's thus far why now, when Lunch is almost here. _Addison thought to herself.

"Dr. Shepard," Addison said as she put on a strained smile.

"Dr. Montgomery," Meredith said with an equally strained smile on her face.

Meredith was about to move on when she saw a young woman who looked strikingly similar to the one standing in front of her.

"Mom," Hailey called as she walked into the open area where her mother was standing with her back to her. Hailey could pick her mother out anywhere. Part of it had to do with the fact that she had red hair; the other part was due to the fact that she was fairly tall, and a trait Hailey had inherited.

Addison turned around to face her daughter. In her little accident involving Meredith, she forgot that she was having lunch with Hailey, Morgan, Cristina and Burke at the hospital. "Hey Hails, where's Morgan?" Addison asked ignoring the fact that Meredith was still there.

"I'm right here, have you seen my parents? I thought we were all supposed to be having lunch together." Morgan said appearing from the bathroom.

"Well, your dad bailed. I think he said something about not being able to handle having lunch with four women instead of the usual two. So it will be you two me and your mom." Addison said.

Meredith cringed in the background at the thought of her best friend, who was supposed to be on her side, having a friendly lunch with Addison.

"Okay, that's fine with me. Hey Aunt Meredith." Morgan said noticing her godmother behind Addison.

"Hi, Morgan. I saw your mom about fifteen minuets ago. She just got out of a surgery." Meredith informed Morgan.

"Thanks," Morgan smiled. "Hey since it'll be an all girls lunch, Aunt Meredith do you want to join us," Morgan asked, not wanting to leave her god mother out and, not thinking about the problems it would cause.

"Um Morgan I…" Meredith said not wanting to hurt Morgan's feelings by turning down the invitation.

It was then that it hit Meredith as to what she had just said. Hailey and Addison looked at the wavy haired young woman standing in front of them. "That is if your not busy," Morgan said giving the gifted surgeon an out.

"Actually, Morgan I am a little busy, maybe another time." Meredith smiled as Cristina walked up to the four women.

"Hey mom are you ready?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah. Addison there is some guy looking for you around here named Matthew Lawrence." Cristina said.

After hearing the word guy Meredith stayed behind to see how everything played out. She watched as Cristina, Morgan, Addison and Hailey began to walk toward the cafeteria when a man walked up behind her.

"Addi," the man called.

At the sound of her name Addison turned around and smiled at the handsome man that was walking up to her.

"Hey Matt, what are you doing here?" Addison asked him.

"Hailey told me that you two would be here before she left. She figured that it might be a good idea for me to stop here on my way home instead of going straight to New York." He said as he stopped in front of her and bent down to kiss her.

Meredith watched from where she was standing, feeling even more embarrassed about what she had said to Derek the night before. The very handsome dark haired man was obviously seeing Addison.

"Hey Hails," Matt said as he hugged Hailey.

"Hi Matt, want to have lunch with us? You'd be surrounded by four women though," Hailey said after he had released her from their brief hug.

"I was hoping to have lunch with your mother alone, but we could do dinner later on tonight." Matt said.

"Then dinner it is tonight at seven," Addison answered.

"Great, should I meet you at the hotel?"

"Yeah, here's my room key. I'll see you tonight." Addison reached up to pull his head down to hers and kissed him.

"Okay Mom, Matt this is a public place. I know you haven't seen each other in a month but please. Spare me. Spare the hospital." Hailey said. "Are you ready for lunch Morgan?"

"Yes I'm ready. Where'd my mom go?" Morgan asked. While Addison and Matt had been reuniting, Cristina had left on a page.

"I don't know but we'll have to do lunch with her some other time. I am hungry." Hailey said. "Bye Matt."

Morgan and Hailey began to walk away with Addison not far behind, she had to wave one last time before she left with her daughter and daughter's best friend.

Meredith stared at the fleeting figures for a little while before getting back to work. _Maybe Addison really doesn't want to steal my husband._ Meredith thought to herself.


	9. The Conversation

Meredith and Derek sat eating lunch together in the hospital cafeteria.

Meredith looked over to the table where Addison, Hailey, Morgan and Cristina, who had just arrived at the table, sat. The four of them were laughing about something Addison said.

"Mer," Derek said changing Meredith's focus, "what are you thinking about?"

"Look over there," Meredith pointed, "My best friend, my god-daughter, your x-wife, and your long lost daughter are all laughing and having a good time. I don't get it Derek, Cristina is supposed to be on my side." She said frustrated and annoyed.

Derek listened to his wife, thinking through everything she had said. "Meredith, it's just how it is. Morgan and Hailey became best friends, not because they were trying to hurt you, but because they are compatible for being best friends. Because Morgan and Hailey are so close, Cristina and Addison have to be, at the very least, friendly toward one another. They've stayed in touch for eight years, it's only natural that they become close." Derek reasoned.

"I, guess your right. I know that it's mean but I always thought she should be miserable. Derek she hurt you, the man I love. I always thought karma would get around to her and kick her ass, making her feel as bad, if not worse than you did. It just doesn't seem fair. It's like she has everything a beautiful daughter that looks just like her with your eyes and a great looking boyfriend." Meredith said before she put a forkful of salad in her mouth.

"Meredith, Addison has paid her debt. When she left Seattle, I know she was hurting. The fact that I'm in love with you still hurts her. She deserves to be happy just as much as anyone else, if not more. She let me go so that I could be with you. She's got a daughter and a 'great-looking' guy, big deal. You've got me McDreamy and two of the greatest children in this world." Derek explained trying to make Meredith smile.

"I know you're right, but that doesn't make it any easier. It's still going to be awkward at Morgan's birthday dinner." Meredith said stabbing another piece of lettuce, and looking back at the table occupied by Addison, Cristina, Hailey and Morgan. Her eyes rested on Hailey for a few seconds, before she turned back around and focused her attention on her husband. "Have you talked to her yet, your daughter I mean?"

"No, not yet. I don't know what I would say, or how to approach her. I haven't been this confused over what to do in years." Derek said looking confused.

"Derek, as Much as I hate to say this, you've got to talk to her sooner rather than late. She is your daughter and you have missed out on eighteen years of her life, which was not your fault. But if you don't act on this knowledge sooner rather than later, she won't be able to forgive you for, this time voluntarily, staying out of her life. Not only that but you'll hate yourself for waiting too long. You need to talk with her before Wednesday; time is of the essence here. You only have two days left." Meredith explained.

Later that evening Morgan and Hailey were playing monopoly with Addison and Matt, and Cristina and Preston. They had decided to play on teams because Addison and Matt eventually decided to just have dinner with the Yang-Burke family.

"Okay whose go is it next?" Morgan asked.

"It's mom and Matt's go." Hailey said handing over the dice to Matt.

Matt rolled the dice and moved his and Addison's piece. They landed on the go to jail spot.

"Looks like your going to jail Dr. Montgomery," Morgan said through a fit of laughter. Earlier both Matt and Addison said that they would not end up in jail because they were always lucky.

"Whatever, Preston I do believe it's your go," said Addison handing over the dice. Before Preston was able to roll the doorbell rang.

"Well that's an excuse to take a quick break. I have to go to the bathroom." Preston said standing up from the kitchen table.

"I'll get the door," Morgan said.

"I'll come with you to make sure it's not a stalker." Said Hailey getting up to follow her friend.

Morgan opened the door to find Derek dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

"Hi Uncle Derek, we weren't expecting you. Come in," Morgan said stepping aside to let him in.

Derek stepped over the thresh-hold and into the house. "Hi Morgan, Hailey." Derek said.

"Hey you two, you're holding up the game," Addison said coming into the foyer as she brushed a piece of her hair behind her head with her left hand. That's when Derek noticed it for the first time. The diamond engagement ring on Addison's finger had captured the light when Derek looked up. "Derek," Addison said surprised to see him after work.

"Hey Addison, I was hoping to talk to Hailey," he told her.

"Well, she's standing right there why don't you ask her?" Addison said before she went back into the kitchen.

Morgan took that as her cue to leave and followed Addison to the kitchen.

"Well, Hailey, do you want to speak to me?" Derek asked unsure of how to handle this particular situation.

"Sure, it won't kill me. We should probably go somewhere more private," Hailey said less nervous than she felt. She first walked into the kitchen where the noise level went down significantly when she walked into the room. "Morgan can we use your room?" Hailey asked while everyone stared at her.

"Yeah fine with me. I think I can handle them by myself we are winning." Morgan said as she smiled an encouraging smile.

"Thanks." Hailey turned around and walked toward the stairs with Derek close behind.

When the pair reached Morgan's room they sat down, Hailey on the bed and Derek in Morgan's desk chair. Everything was silent, except for the faint sounds of laughter from the kitchen.

Hailey looked at her feet as she flexed her foot before she said anything. "I've had this moment pictured in my head forever. I knew exactly what I was going to say, but now none of it seems like it would work," Hailey looked up into a reflection of her own eyes. Her mother always told her she had his eyes. Hailey never believed her because her eyes were similar to her mother's, now she knew what her mom had meant when she said that.

"Well that's a good start. You could tell me what you were going to say and I'll tell you how it sounds to me," Derek suggested.

"I had so many questions, most of which mom answered when I was younger. She told me everything that happened, why she left or I guess went back home. I guess what I really want to know is why couldn't you at least forgive her? It took her ten years to start dating again and another four to let anyone really get to know her because she felt she was a horrible person, one for cheating on you, two for leaving you and three for not letting you get to know me. I had never seen my mother truly happy and in love with life until Matt showed up, and I can't help but think that is all because of you that I never truly got to know my own mother until I was thirteen. I know I shouldn't blame you but I can't help the way I feel," Hailey said to the man that sat in front of her.

Derek took in everything Hailey had said and began to think. He knew what Hailey had said was true; he had not forgiven Addison completely and had made her feel like she was the reason their marriage fell apart. Her sleeping with his best friend was the last stop in a train of events that had been going on for the better part of two years. "I'm sorry," there was nothing else that could express the way he felt.

"It's not a matter of telling me you're sorry that's what my mother needs to here. I've been working on getting over the fact you couldn't forgive mom. I just thought that was something we should get out of the way. You'll always be my father and I want to get to know you." Hailey said.

"What do you want to know?" Derek asked.

"I'm not quite sure, maybe I'll tell you about me and then you can tell me about you?" Hailey suggested.

"If that's what you want," Derek said.

"My full name is Hailey Danielle Montgomery Shepard. I'm eighteen. My best friends name is Morgan and I'm from New York that you already know. I take ballet and have been for a very long time, that is how I met Morgan. I love to dance. I'm afraid of most insects. I don't like tomatoes on my hamburger, but I'll eat them in a salad. When I was seven I broke my arm and danced in the ballet recital with a pink cast on. When I was eight I stopped believing in Santa Clause. When I was thirteen, I finally told my mom."

"Why," Derek interrupted.

"Because that was the year I asked Santa to bring my dad to us so that we could be a real family," Hailey said looking down at her hands.

"Hailey, I…"

"No, it's okay. I was eight. I think for now that's enough about me. What about you?"

"There's not much to tell. My life is fairly boring. I'm a neuro-surgeon I operate on people's brains. When I first came to Seattle I lived in a trailer." Derek said trying to get a smile out of Hailey.

"Are you serious?" She asked as she began to laugh.

"You find that funny?"

"Hysterical,"

Derek smiled at seeing his daughter laugh for the first time. Her laughter radiated throughout the room. "Do you want to know more or should I stop there?"

"I have a brother and a sister right?" Hailey asked seriously.

"Yes, Laura and Jake. Both were adopted when they were babies." Derek said.

"Morgan says Jake is good at sports and that Laura is an awesome writer, for a thirteen year old."

"Yeah, that's true. Jake adores Morgan." Derek said.

"Can I meet them? Not right now but eventually, sometime before Wednesday? I've always wanted a little brother and sister. I asked mom onetime if we could adopt Morgan. The two of us thought it was a great idea. Her parents would adopt me and mom would adopt Morgan, then we'd be one big family. We didn't quite understand the concept of adoption." Hailey laughed as she recalled the memory of the look on her mom's face when she made that suggestion.

"Of, course you can. I'll call you later tomorrow and let you know what time." Derek said

Hailey smiled as she started to hear an upset Morgan arguing about the game from downstairs. "I think I should go back down there before Morgan murders her parents, my mom and Matt. She obviously can't make sound business decisions without me." Hailey said as she stood up.

Derek followed her actions and walked behind her downstairs to the foyer. "Thanks Hailey, for letting me talk with you," Derek said as he hugged his daughter for the first time.

"Your welcome, we should do that again sometime," Hailey said as he released her. She opened the door to let him out. "Bye Derek," she could not quite call him dad yet because it did not feel comfortable to her yet.

Derek winced a little, unnoticeably, at the sound of his oldest child calling him by his first name. He understood that she was not comfortable yet, but it still hurt. "By Hailey," Derek said as he walked back to his car.

Hailey watched Derek drive off before she went back inside to join the game.

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Hurray for me this is a long chapter :)


	10. Another Sister?

It was only six thirty when Derek had left, so he called home to see what was for dinner.

"Hello," Meredith said.

"Hey Mer, it's me. Why don't I pick up a frozen pizza for tonight?" Derek asked as he parked the car in the grocery store parking lot.

"That sounds good. I'm still helping Laura with her homework and Jake is watching cartoons."

"Okay, when I get there we have to talk." Derek said exiting his vehicle and walking toward the entrance.

"Alright, I'll see you soon. Love you."

"Love you too, Meredith." Derek said closing his cell phone and walking down the frozen foods aisle.

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"I'm home," Derek said walking into their kitchen from the garage.

"Hey dad," Jake said from the floor where he sat watching a cartoon.

"Hi daddy," Laura said from the computer where she was chatting online.

"I bought frozen pizza, it should be done in about thirty minuets." Derek said as he unwrapped the cheese pizza and placed it on a cookie sheet to put in the oven, he always hated putting it directly on the oven wrack because sometimes the cheese would fall off and stick to the bottom of the oven.

"Okay dad," Jake and Laura said in unison, both extremely focused on what they were doing.

Meredith walked out from their room in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. "Hey," she said as she came over to kiss him.

"Hey Mer. I took your advice," Derek said.

"Maybe we should go in the bedroom and talk about this," Meredith suggested not quite ready for her children to hear the conversation she and Derek were about to have.

Derek led the way to their room and sat down in a chair that sat next to the door.

"Well, how'd it go?" Meredith asked, sitting across from him on their bed.

"It went fine, I went over there and talked with Hailey. She's a dancer, ballet. She also made me realize something, about Addison." Derek said as he looked into the eyes of his wife.

"What that your still madly in love with her?" Meredith asked half joking afraid the answer to her question may be yes.

"No, I will always be in love with you Meredith. I learned that even though I am grateful to her for giving me up so that I could be with you, I never forgave her. She apologized more than once and yet I never forgave her, Meredith. I thanked her but never told her that I forgave her. By not doing that I made it hard for her to move on." Derek explained.

"She did move on, she's seeing someone; however, you still need to forgive her. I can't believe I'm saying this, but in order for you two to have some semblance of a friendship, for Hailey's sake, you need to forgive her." Meredith said being the voice of reason.

"I know. Hailey wants to meet Jake and Laura." Derek said.

"When?"

"Soon, before the dinner. So that means tomorrow probably." Derek said.

"We'll have to tell them tonight," Meredith said looking to the door that separated her from her children.

They sat quietly for a little while, each focused on their own thoughts when they heard the ding of the oven. Derek got up to take the pizza out.

"Pizza's ready," Derek called as he set the hot pizza on a towel on the counter. He then got a pizza cutter and began to slice the pizza.

Laura and Jake came into the kitchen and sat down at the table, waiting for Derek to put the pizza on the table. Meredith came out from their room and also sat down at the mahogany round table.

Derek sat down and the family of four began to ear. "So how was school today Laura?" Derek asked.

"It was fine. My best friend Hannah is having a sleepover this weekend and she wanted to know if I could come. Can I go?" Laura said.

"As long as all of your homework is done and your room is clean," Meredith said knowing that her daughter had a little problem with keeping her room clean.

"I can do that," Laura said.

"What about you Jake, how was your day?" Derek asked turning to his son.

"It was great. Jason and I had a jumping contest to see who could jump off of the swings the farthest and I won." Jake said excitedly.

"Really?" Meredith asked with an eyebrow cocked.

"Yep," Jake said with a mouthful of pizza.

"Jake don't talk with your mouth full," Derek reprimanded his son.

Jake swallowed his food before responding. "Ok dad."

As everyone's plate began to get empty Derek felt like it was the best time to tell Laura and Jake about Hailey.

"You two know how I met your mom right?" Derek asked.

"Yes we know the story Dad. You and mom worked at the same hospital together." Laura said not liking where this was going. She always hated it when her parents told them about their relationship before they got married.

"When I met your mother here in Seattle I was married," Derek said.

This was something knew. Laura had not known that part. She had just assumed her parents had fallen madly in love with each other at first sight. That was how she always pictured it.

"I had lived in New York and my first marriage wasn't going so well, so I took a job out here. My first wife, Addison is her name, followed me out here. We tried to make it work because you can't just let an eleven-year marriage go down the drain. However, she eventually left, for reasons I'll explain when you're a little older. When she left she didn't tell me she was going to have a baby. A few days ago she came back here. She was asked to assist with a case in the hospital. She's also a doctor. We had lunch together on her insistence and that's when she told me about Hailey, your half-sister." Derek said. He watched his children take in the news.

"So you're telling me I have an older sister?" Laura asked.

"Yes that is what your dad is saying." Meredith said not knowing whether or not her daughter would be happy, sad or angry.

"That is so awesome. I always wanted an older sister. How old is she?" Laura asked.

"She is eighteen." Derek answered.

"Cool, I have an older sister who can drive." Laura said excitedly. "When can I meet her?"

"She wanted to meet you two before Morgan's birthday dinner." Derek said.

"Why?" Laura said finding it odd that her sister knew about Morgan's dinner.

"Hailey is Morgan's best friend from New York. That is why she is here." Derek said.

"Oh," Laura said a little disappointed. She thought she would have her sister all to herself.

"Jake what do you think about having another sister?" Meredith asked since her son had remained quiet.

"I have another sister? Isn't one enough? Laura already kicks me out of her room. What will Hailey do?" Jake asked disappointed. "Why can't I have a brother, I don't already have one."

"Jake I think you'll like her. She's very excited to meet the two of you. Morgan told her a lot about you two." Derek told his son.

"I guess having another sister won't be too bad. As long as she's more like Morgan than Laura."

"What did you say?" Laura asked.

"Jake that was not nice, apologize to your sister." Meredith said.

"Sorry Laura," Jake said.

"Just don't say it again Jake." Laura said as a way of accepting her little brother's apology.

"If you want to meet Hailey tomorrow, I can call Morgan and see if she and Hailey would pick you up from school." Derek said.

"That sounds good to me." Laura said.

"As long as we don't go to the mall. Only girls hang out at the mall." Jake said.

"Fine Jake I'll make sure to tell Morgan no malls." Derek said.

"It's time for bed you two," Meredith said as she got up from the table.

"Good night mom," Laura said.

"Good night mom," Jake repeated as he went to hug his mother.

Both children walked to their rooms very excited about what the next day would hold.


	11. Car Ride

Hailey and Morgan sat outside of the school waiting for thirteen-year-old Laura to come out.

"What time does school let out again?" Hailey asked for the fifth time since they had arrived.

"She should be out here soon, I've picked her up before. Although if she doesn't come out soon, we'll have to leave her to pick up Jake. I hope they reminded him that we're picking him up," Morgan said annoyed.

"Doesn't she have a cell phone why don't you call her?" Hailey asked. She was becoming more nervous with each passing second.

"Because, she always forgets it at home. However, I'll try." Before Morgan could reach for her phone the brunette walked out of the red brick building talking with one of her friends. "There she is," Morgan said as she leaned heavily on the horn startling both Hailey and the people outside of the building.

Laura jumped at the sound of the car horn beeping and looked up from her conversation. She soon spotted Morgan's car realizing that it must have been her who beeped the horn. Making eye contact with her god-sister Laura held up one finger to let her know she would be over in a minuet.

"Oh, no she didn't tell me to wait!" Morgan exclaimed as she unbuckled and got out of the car. Cupping her hands to her mouth Morgan yelled, "Laura let's go. We've got to pick up Jake."

Laura rolled her eyes and walked towards the car. "Hey Morgan," she said as she got into the back seat.

"Hey, didn't you hear me honk the horn? Now we're going to be late picking up Jake and there will be a long line that we have to sit through." Morgan said putting her seat belt back on and starting the engine.

"I had to make some last minuet plans for a project that's due next Thursday. Why do you always have to embarrass me when you come pick me up?" Laura explained.

"Because that's what god sisters are for." Morgan smiled. "Laura this is my best friend Hailey," Morgan said not knowing how to introduce the two sisters.

"You're my half sister right?" Laura asked.

"Yeah, that's right." Hailey said surprised at how casual she had put it and how relaxed Laura was.

"That is so cool. I've always wanted a sister. Morgan doesn't quite hit all the sisterly points." Laura said.

"Hey, I'm only human. I've got other things to do; I'm a busy woman. But you can't completely write me off, I try to be the best god-sister I can. I take you to the mall don't I?" Morgan said offended.

"I guess so. But it's still not the same Morgan." Laura said.

"I get it. So where did you want to hang out this afternoon?" Morgan asked.

"What about the mall?" Laura answered.

"Your dad said no malls. Plus it's not the best place to go with your brother, he hates shopping." Morgan said.

"Fine then. We could go to the park and get ice cream. Or we could go back to your house and watch movies." Laura suggested.

"I think the park's a good idea," Hailey said.

"Okay then we'll go to the park," said Morgan as they pulled up to the school. "I'm going to' go in to get him, I'll be right back." Morgan exited the car and walked into the building.

"So, you live in New York City?" Laura asked Hailey.

"Yeah, I live in New York City, I still haven't decided where I want to go to college yet." Laura answered.

"That is so cool. What's it like in New York, do you stay out all night?"

"No, I don't have time to. I take ballet, so right after school I go to the studio for rehearsal and then I go home to do my homework. On Thursday's I have piano lessons after ballet. I'm pretty busy." Hailey explained.

"So you don't go to any parties or anything?"

"Birthday parties, but all my friends are in ballet too so they don't usually throw birthday parties."

"Oh, what about shopping. Do you shop at nice stores or thrift stores like Morgan?"

"Both when I have time. With my mother shopping at SAKs is a must. But I like to mix it up, keep people guessing, something Morgan and I have in common." Hailey smiled.

"What type of movies do you like?" Laura asked trying to get to know her sister a little better.

"I like different types of movies. My favorite would have to be comedy though, I like to laugh; ballet is fun but everyone is very serious so it's good for a little comic relief every now and then." Hailey smiled.

"I like comedy too. What type of music do you listen too?" Laura asked.

"Almost any type. It usually depends on what the song sounds like. What is this twenty questions?" Hailey asked.

"Yes, on to my next question, what do you think of dad?" Laura asked.

"Well he's funny. I'm not really sure. I only talked with him for a little while." Hailey answered.

Laura was about to ask another question when the back passenger side door opened and Jake jumped in. "Hi Laura," he said.

"Hi Jake."

Morgan made her way to the driver's side and got into the car. "So Jake, since you don't like going to the mall, and we have to accommodate you,"

"Even though you're spending the afternoon with three girls" Laura interrupted.

Morgan rolled her eyes and continued to talk, "we are going to go to the park then grab something to eat and have ice cream afterwards. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good." Jake responded.

The four of them rode in silence for a few minuets before Jake decided to speak up. "Are you my sister?" Jake asked Hailey.

"Yes I am."

"That is so cool. Do you play any sports?' Jake asked.

"No I take ballet." Hailey responded. "Are you going to ask a bunch of questions like Laura did?"

"Yes," Jake replied.

"Well then at dinner you two can interrogate me together, how does that sound?" Hailey asked.

"Works for me," Laura said.

"Fine," Jake answered.

"Good," Morgan said.

"I wasn't asking you Morgan," Hailey said.

"I know I just felt like I should say something too since everyone else had an opinion." Morgan smiled at her friend.

"Whatever Morgan."


	12. Conversation in the Park

So I've been on a bit of a hiatus. (I really should stop those) But here is a new chapter (I had a snow day, a whole ¼ of an inch of snow fell and like always the whole county shuts down). Hope you like it. As always any suggestions are appreciated.

Hailey sat in a swing pushing her feet back and forth as she watched Jake play on the slide. Each time he tried a new way to come down he called out to her yelling, "Hailey, Hailey watch this." And each time she would lift her head up, putting her conversation with Laura on hold, and watch the brown haired boy slide down.

"So Hailey, do you have a boyfriend?" Laura asked.

"No, I really don't have time to do anything fun. Morgan always tells me I'm a bore and that I should get out more, but I like spending time dancing and hanging out with my mom. We are really very close." Hailey responded as she drew a heart in the damp mulch under the swing.

"So your telling me that you are eighteen years old and you don't have a boyfriend? You expect me to believe that?" Laura gawked.

"Of course you're supposed to believe it. It's the truth." Hailey stated.

"She's telling the truth you know." Morgan said as she walked up to the two sisters sitting on the swings. "Sometimes I wonder how we are such good friends, we are very different you know." Morgan said sitting on Hailey's lap.

"You know swings were not built for two people big butt." Hailey laughed as she tried to push Morgan off.

"Well as you can see there are not any available swings so I opted for the next best thing, my best friend." Morgan dug her feet into the ground to keep herself stable.

"Hailey," Jake yelled from the monkey bars. Hailey looked up and saw her brother as he reached for the first bar. "I'm really good at monkey bars see," He said as he went across. Once he reached the end Jake jumped down and dusted off his hands.

"Good job Jake," Hailey said clapping her hands. From her right Laura rolled her eyes at her brother's attempt to impress Hailey.

"Have you ever had a boyfriend?" Laura asked.

"If your asking have I been on dates, the answer is yes. But personally I'd rather wait until college to get into a serious enough relationship to call the guy I'm dating my boyfriend." Hailey answered.

"Seriously?" Laura gawked.

"Seriously. Hailey has never had a quote end quote boyfriend. But there has been guys she dated for a month or two." Morgan added.

"Thanks for your input Morgan," Hailey said as she once again tried to push her friend off of her lap.

"Always a pleasure! By the way it is so not going to work Hailey." Morgan grinned as she tried to hold her position sitting on Hailey's lap.

"Hailey you said you take ballet if you've been taking for eight years you've got to be pretty good at it."

"Laura, Hailey is good enough to teach ballet classes. She's been dancing longer than you've been alive. She is amazingly graceful." Morgan said admirably.

"I am not that good, but I have been dancing since I was three so that's what fifteen years?"

"I have never done anything that long ever," Laura, said impressed.

"Of course you haven't you have not been alive long enough," Morgan said cheekily.

Again Laura rolled her eyes. "What is it like, meeting your father for the first time?" Laura asked.

"What do you mean?" Hailey asked.

"Well, you never knew dad and he is your dad. You had to feel something, I mean you met the man who helped create you." Silence ensued Laura's question as both of the older girls stared at her question. "I'm not a child, I know where babies come from." Still there was no response from Hailey. "I guess what I'm trying to ask is whether or not you wished you had never met dad."

"And this is when I go play with Jake," Morgan said getting off of Hailey's lap to leave the sisters alone to have a more personal conversation.

"Oh I think I understand now," Hailey said.

"You do?" Laura asked.

"Derek told me that you and Jake were both adopted, and your trying to figure out if you ever want to meet your biological parents."

"Yeah that's my question."

"Your thinking that our situations are the same, I never met my biological father until now and you've never met your biological parents."

"Well now that I think about it, our situations are not that the same. Your biological father wanted you and so did your mom." Laura said.

"Laura, I'm sure that your parents wanted you. There are many reasons why couples give up children not because they don't want to keep the baby but because they can't afford to. In their eyes they are trying to give you a better life than the one they could provide for you. Or maybe the mother was a teenager and the father never knew she was pregnant. Laura every situation is different. You won't know until you decide to find out. Have you talked to your parents about this?" Hailey asked.

"No I'm afraid to ask them I…" Laura stopped. "You don't understand."

"You don't want them to feel like you don't appreciate them, or like you don't love them right?" Hailey said.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"My mom started dating Matt, her fiancé when I was thirteen. After I met him it took us no time to develop a father daughter like relationship. Two years ago I had toyed with the idea of asking my mom about my father but I didn't. I loved my mom and I felt like if I asked I would seem ungrateful for everything she had already done for me. I also did not want to hurt Matt. When I couldn't talk to mom, I could talk to him. He was and still is always there when I have a problem. He's basically been my dad for the last four years." Hailey explained to Laura.

"So you kind of understand how I feel." Laura said.

"Yeah, I do."


	13. Chinese Food for Dinenr

**Okay if you've been following the days (because obviously I haven't) it is supposed to be the day of the dinner (Hailey in town three days before dinner) ignore that. Hailey has been in town for three days so far. I promise the next day is the dinner. Sorry for the confusion. On with the story…**

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Morgan's car pulled up to the two-story home whose porch lights were on. "We are here," She announced as she turned the car off. Opening the door she stepped onto the sidewalk.

"Finally. I thought we'd never get home." Laura said stepping out of the car. "I bet the food is cold now too."

"It still feels a little warm." Hailey said placing her hand on the bottom of the bag.

"Mom and dad better be grateful we stopped at the Chinese restaurant and ordered enough food for them too. It took way too long. I bet if we had just gotten what we wanted or went to a sit down restaurant to eat it would not have taken so long to get home," Laura supplied.

"Whatever Laur. The reason the food is probably cold is because of the traffic we hit on the way here," said Morgan climbing the steps.

"You guys, Hailey said the food isn't cold." Jake said.

"You're right Jake. It's not cold now but if we stand out here any longer it will be!" Hailey said walking behind Laura and Jake.

Laura rolled her eyes and pushed her way past Jake and Morgan to get to the front door. She put the key into the lock to open the door, but before she was able to turn it the door opened.

"You guys are loud you know that right?" Derek said as he looked at the four of them as they all stood on the stoop.

"We are not loud Dad."

"Yeah knowing you, you probably stood by the door waiting for us to get back." Laura said stepping over the threshold and leading the group into the house.

"Uhuh, I see you brought food back," Derek commented as he looked at the bag Hailey was holding.

"Yeah, we figured you'd be just as hungry as we are when we got back. We didn't want you to starve. That would do no one any good especially those people who need their brains operated on like Hailey." Morgan said.

"Hey that is not funny there is absolutely nothing wrong with my brain. You are just jealous that's all." Hailey laughed. "Derek where should I put the bag?"

"The kitchen is this way," He said as he led the teenager toward the kitchen.

The pair entered the kitchen where Hailey put the bag on the counter. "I hope we got food you liked. We relied on Laura for suggestions on what to get so," Hailey said pulling the cartons out of the bag.

"Whatever you got is fine, Laura knows what Meredith and I like. She is fairly observant." Derek said pulling six paper plates out of the pantry and setting them on the counter.

"Yep that's correct, I know exactly what you like to eat," Laura said as she came in and stood next to her sister and began fixing her plate.

"Laur fix your brother's plate too." Derek said.

"Fine, Jake" she yelled across the house in search of her brother.

"Hey Derek I saw a terrible accident on the news did the kids get home?" Meredith asked as she walked into the kitchen. She had been in their bedroom reading a medical journal with the door closed. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Hailey standing in her kitchen.

"Yeah, they made it back safely," Derek said turning around from getting a bottle of soda from the refrigerator. He watched his wife stare at Hailey as she, oblivious to the eyes staring at her, began fixing herself a plate.

The three of them stood in silence before Hailey looked up from the plate she was making and realized that there were two pairs of eyes looking at her. "Umm hi," she said unsure of what to do in her current situation.

Derek shook his head pulling himself back to reality, "Hailey this is my wife Meredith, Meredith this is Hailey, my daughter," he said introducing the two women for the first time.

"Nice to meet you," Hailey smiled extending her hand.

"You look just like your mother," Meredith said after gripping Hailey's hand and shaking it.

"I haven't quite figured out if that is a good thing or a bad thing yet," Hailey said jokingly turning her attention back to the plate before her.

Meredith continued to stare at the young adult _this is my stepdaughter,_ she thought to herself. "What did you get from the Chinese place?" Meredith asked trying to act like it was normal to have her stepdaughter in her kitchen making a plate of food.

"We ordered shrimp fried rice, general Tsao's Chicken, beef and broccoli, crab wontons, white rice, and some other stuff I can't remember it all. We took Laura's advice on what to get." Hailey said as she closed the carton of food in front of her. She then sat down at the kitchen table next to Morgan, who had snuck in and fixed her plate while the introductions were taking place, and began to eat her food.

Derek sat down at the table across from Hailey and Meredith began to fix her own plate while Jake and Laura came into the kitchen.

"Did you guys get trapped in the traffic from the accident?" Meredith asked Morgan.

"I guess that's what it was. We didn't get to see it though, I took the back way." Morgan said. "Why was it bad?"

"From the looks of it on the news yeah. I'm surprised we didn't get called in to the hospital. Meredith responded.

"Oh that doesn't sound too good," Hailey said as she looked at her plate.

"So Hailey, what schools did you say you got into again?" Morgan asked changing the topic.

"Well I got into Julliard, but I'm not sure if that's what I want to do. As much as I love to dance I don't want to put all of my eggs in one basket. What if I get in some detrimental accident what happens then? I'll end up working at McDonald's. And I also got into UNC but I haven't heard from Duke, Columbia, or Johns Hopkins yet since they both only have early decision and not early action." Hailey responded.

"You applied to two colleges in North Carolina, why would you do that?" Meredith asked joining the conversation and sitting at the table.

"I really like the weather. Don't get me wrong I love New York, it's just that it gets so cold during the winter at home, and I'd rather be in a bit of a warmer climate in the winter."

"I understand. Which is why I applied early decision to Duke. I'm tired of the rain." Morgan whined.

"Those are all pretty good schools Hailey," Derek said as he put a spoonful of rice into his mouth.

"So you didn't apply to any colleges here in Washington?" Laura asked a little hurt that no matter what school she chose, Hailey would not be close by.

"I really had no reason to, Morgan would be moving and Matt is planning on permanently moving to New York after the wedding. On top of that there weren't any colleges I liked out here." Hailey said.

"No reason to come here? What about us?" Jake asked. The whole table quieted down. No one knew how to respond to the question Jake asked.

Finally Hailey lifted her head up and looked Jake in the eye, "When I started applying to colleges, I didn't know about you guys," Hailey said.

"So what did you guys get me for my birthday?" Morgan asked as an attempt to change the topic, but everyone was still focused on the previous conversation. So much so that Hailey did not hear her cell phone ring.

**AN: okay so here is where the chapter ends (well duhh) but here's the thing, something big has got to happen to someone that Hailey's cell phone would ring. I have an idea of what to do but I'm not sure whether I should use it or not. Any other suggestions at this time would be very helpful.**


	14. What Happened?

I'm back after a long hiatus. Writer's block is a bitch let me tell you. Here we go another chapter.

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It was late when Hailey and Morgan returned to the house. There were no lights on around the house and the cars were not in the driveway.

"I wonder where everyone is," Morgan said as she walked up to the door and unlocked it.

"Good question. Although Mom and Matt are probably at the hotel catching up and everything. He has been in California for the last month working on finishing touches to the movie he directed."

"What about my parents hmm?"

"Maybe they're on call. They are surgeons. Plus you saw all of the traffic, and Meredith said there was a bad accident. She was surprised they didn't get called in." Hailey suggested.

"You know you might be right." Morgan walked up the stairs to her room, with Hailey following close behind.

"I thin my butt is vibrating," Hailey said as she reached into her back pocket.

"What?"

"My phone is vibrating." Hailey opened the phone and looked at the screen. "It says I have ten missed calls. Who could be trying to get in touch with me that badly?"

"Don't know." Morgan pulled on a night t-shirt and turned around to look at Hailey. What she found scared her more than anything had before. Her best friend was in a heap on the floor clutching the phone to her ear. Her face was pale and tears were streaming down leaving a faint trail.

"Hailey, what happened?" Morgan asked sitting down next to her taking the phone out of her hand.

"We need to go to the hospital." Hailey stood up and grabbed the jacket she had left on the bed earlier.

"Of course." Morgan grabbed her own coat and followed Hailey down the stairs.

The two arrived at the hospital, Morgan not knowing what to expect. She looked around and saw her mother standing at the nurses' station writing things down in a chart. Cristina turned around, after she finished with the chart, to find Morgan standing in a jacket that covered her night shirt and Hailey who looked like hell.

"Girls come over here and sit down." Cristina said ushering the two to the chairs that lined the wall.

"Mom what's going on? Hailey just told me we needed to be here. I didn't ask questions after I saw her face. What's going on?" Morgan asked terrified to find out the answer.

"Addison and Matt were in a car accident earlier. We tried calling both of you but neither one of you answered your phones." Cristina explained.

"Where's Matt? Your message said that he only had minor injuries, a few lacerations and a broken arm." Hailey asked too afraid to find out about her mother yet.

"He's in the waiting room on the surgical floor I'll take you to him." Cristina said standing up. She led them to the room where Matt sat with his head in his hands.

"Daddy," Hailey screamed when she walked into the room. She covered her mouth with her hands after her outburst. Hailey hadn't meant to call him that, it just happened. She had been toying with the idea of giving him that title for months but never brought up the subject.

"Hails, it is okay." Matt stood up and hugged the young woman tight, as he tried to calm her down.

"What happened? Where's mom? Is she in surgery? Why won't someone tell me what happened?" Hailey cried.

"Hails, have a seat please." Matt said pulling her into a chair next to him. "Your mom and I were on our way to the hotel, she was driving. The light had just turned green. She accelerated through the light when a drunk driver slammed into the car. We did a 360 and somehow a piece of debris flew through the windshield. It hit her in the chest. Preston is operating on her now."

"Oh my god, oh my god," she screamed as the tears continued to stream down her face.

"Hailey she's going to' be fine. She's a fighter and Preston is in there not any old doctor." Matt said.

Hailey continued to cry as she started to hyperventilate.

"Hailey, you've got to breath." Morgan said as she kneeled down in front of her resting her hands on her best friend's knees.

"Matt and Morgan are right Hailey. You need to breathe and Preston is not going to let anything happen to your mom in that OR you here me. She is going to be fine and you are going to be fine." Cristina explained.

The three of them sat waiting for another hour before Preston came out. Hailey had fallen asleep in Matt's arms. His casted arm was wrapped around her shoulder. He, himself, looked like he had been to hell and back. Morgan sat next to Hailey holding her hand, and also asleep. Cristina sat next to Morgan offering her support through a hand on her daughter's back.

"How is she?" Matt whispered trying not to wake Hailey.

Hailey's eyes fluttered open at the sound of Matt's voice. She stared intently at Preston as he began to talk.

"Addison lost a lot of blood and she coded on the table once. It's going to be a long recovery but she should be fine. They are moving her to a private room in the ICU. If she makes it through tonight we can move her from ICU," Preston explained.

"What do you mean if she makes it through? You…"

"Hailey," Matt interrupted, "calm down."

"But dad he said she might not make it through the night. How can…"

"Hails, Hailey look at me," Matt said making her look him in the eye. "Your mother is a fighter. There is no way she won't make it through the night. She's got way too much to live for. She still has your graduation and a wedding to plan. There is no way in hell she's not going to pull through."

"Are you sure?" Hailey asked.

"Positive Hailey. I am positive." Matt said pulling her into a hug.

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Here it was finally an update to my story. I know it's been a long time coming. Reviews are appreciated as well as ideas. Thanks for reading. -anglchild


	15. Day After

Derek and Meredith walked into the hospital together that morning, just like every morning for the past seventeen years. They went to their lockers, and prepared for the day.

As Derek left the locker room, while Meredith was still there, Cristina walked in. Her hair was a mess and she had dark circles under her eyes. Meredith only glanced at her briefly before she began to talk.

"Hey, is Morgan excited about the dinner tonight?" Meredith asked. She had not fully seen the state her friend was in.

"It's canceled. You guys can still give her the gifts though. Hopefully that will take everyone's mind off of things for a little while at least." Cristina said as she changed into street clothes to go home. She had been on call until eleven and stayed all night after Addison's surgery.

"Canceled? Did Morgan do something again? You know even if she did you can't punish her on her birthday." Meredith shut the door to her locker and turned around to face Cristina. What she saw shocked her. The normally well put together surgeon looked like she had stayed up all night to run a marathon. "Cristina are you okay?"

"I'm fine. There was an accident last night."

"I know I saw it on the news," Meredith said.

"Addison and Matt were in the accident." Cristina stated simply.

"Are they going to be okay?"

"Matt has only a broken arm. Addison, on the other hand … well she hasn't woken up yet." Cristina explained.

"What do you mean hasn't woken up yet?"

"A piece of debris flew through the window and had lodged itself into her chest very close to her heart. She lost a lot of blood last night and coded in the OR. I couldn't get a hold of Hailey and Morgan, but when they got here Addison was in surgery."

"They were having dinner with us, that's why you couldn't get in touch with them. How's Hailey doing? I may not like the fact that she is my husband's daughter, but she did almost loose her mother." Meredith said.

"She was hysterical. She couldn't breathe and when she finally calmed down she was exhausted and fell asleep. She and Morgan have been here all night. I'm taking Morgan home. She needs to get some sleep. You may not know this but Addison means a lot to Morgan. She's apart of her 'triad of feminine support.'" Cristina explained.

"Her what?"

"'Triad of feminine support' it consists of me, you and Addison—three women she can depend on no matter what."

"Oh. Well I'll come by when I get off and bring something to eat. I know you're not going to cook." Meredith said.

"Thanks."

"It's what I do." Meredith smiled at Cristina as the two walked out of the locker room.

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Morgan sat with Hailey in the hospital cafeteria poking her spoon at a now cold bowl of oatmeal. Neither said anything. Hailey circled her spoon in her cereal bowl, pushing the cereal all around. The two had sat like that for an hour, neither one knowing what to say.

"Happy birthday Morgan," Hailey stated simply.

"Thanks."

"How does it feel to be legal?"

"I feel the same as I did last night Hailey."

"I'm sorry about all of this Morgan. It's your birthday, you should be celebrating. You defiantly should not be sitting in a hospital with me and moping."

"Hailey, you are my best friend. Your mother is in one of those hospital beds down the hall fighting for her life. I think I am exactly where I should be. Besides, you know me; I have another thirty days at least to celebrate. I celebrate for thirty days remember?" Morgan smiled at her friend, trying to cheer her up.

"I know. Last year you called me twice a day, everyday letting me know you were celebrating. Mom threatened to come out here and put your cell phone in an incinerator because one night you called during our bonding time. We were watching our favorite show." Hailey smiled at the memory of her mother yelling empty threats into the phone.

"I remember that. I thought she was serious too." Morgan laughed at the thought. She looked up from her bowl and spotted her mother over Hailey's shoulder. "Looks like I've got to go. Hailey I'm here, we're here if you need anything."

"Thank you so much Morgan," Hailey said as she stood up to hug her best friend.

"Hey Hailey, how are you holding up?" Cristina asked as she made her way to the table.

"Things have been better, much better. I'm dealing, I think." Hailey replied.

"I'm going home and taking Morgan with me. I'd ask you to come but I already know you're not leaving until she wakes up. Am I right?" Cristina gave a sad smile to the young woman in front of her.

Hailey nodded her head. "I think I'll sit here for awhile before I go back to the room."

"Okay Hailey. We'll see you later." Morgan waved as she and her mother turned to leave.

Hailey sat alone at the table, contemplating everything that had happened in the past few days. It felt like just when things started to go good, this had to happen. Hailey had no idea what she would do if her mother never woke up. She was so deep in thought; Hailey did not realize that she was no longer alone.

"Hey Hails," Matt said after he had sat at the table for a few minuets.

"Hey Matt. Look last night I was… well I wasn't myself and I called you 'daddy' I don't know what happened. I mean I know you probably don't want me to call you that. But it fits. I mean you've been in my life for years in some way, whether it was just as one of mom's friends or her boyfriend and now her fiancé that well it just fits. I'm sorry. I just I…"

Hailey was rambling, and it amused Matt. "Hailey, how long?" Matt asked.

"How long what?" She was confused. 'How long' was not a response to everything she had just let pour from her mouth.

"How long have you been considering calling me dad?" Matt looked at her intently. It was a legitimate question.

She held his gaze for a few minuets before her eyes shifted down and her fingers began to tap on the table. "I don't know a few months. I can understand if you don't want me to call you 'dad.' I mean I'm not your kid."

"Hailey, if you want to call me dad then you can. I have considered you my daughter for years. You and your mother are my world and I don't want to loose either of you." Matt explained.

"Are you sure?" Hailey cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes I'm sure Hails."

"Okay then." She dropped her spoon into the bowl. Putting her hands on the table she pushed herself up.

"You're okay?"

"No, not right now. My mother hasn't woken up yet."

"I'm talking about our relationship Hailey, you and me."

Hailey smiled and walked over to where he now stood. "Yes, dad we are okay."

Matt wrapped Hailey in a hug and kissed the top of her head. "Your cast is hard dad." Hailey commented.

"Let's go see how your mother is doing Hails." The two walked out of the cafeteria, hoping that the woman they loved would wake up soon.


	16. Father Daughter Moment

After her meeting in the locker room with Cristina, Meredith thought it would be best if she looked for Derek and told him what had happened. She found him at the nurses' station filling out charts and sipping a cup of coffee, like everything was alright in the world.

"Derek," Meredith said.

He lifted his head and looked up at his wife. "Hey Mer, what do you need?" He asked before he looked back down at the chart.

"We need to go sit down and talk somewhere."

"Is everything okay Meredith?" He focused his full attention on her.

Meredith pulled gently on his arm. "Let's just go talk okay." She led him into an empty on call room and sat down on the bed. Derek leaned with his back on the wall opposite her. He stared at her waiting for her to say something.

"Addison and Matt were in that accident I saw on the news last night." Meredith stated, thinking that the best way to tell him was to be straightforward about it.

"Oh, God no. Are they going to be alright?" He asked concerned.

"Matt has a few minor lacerations and a broken arm. Addison hasn't woken up from her surgery last night." She explained.

"How did you find out about this?"

"Cristina told me. I asked about the dinner tonight and she said it was canceled. Morgan and Hailey were here all night. I think Cristina dragged Morgan home with her after she left the locker room."

"I need to find Hailey and see if she's okay." Derek said as he pushed himself off of the wall.

"Derek," Meredith called as he placed his hand on the door knob. "I am sorry about all of this."

"So am I." He walked out of the room in search of his daughter.

When he returned to the nurses' station he looked up Addison's room number, which was most likely where he would find Hailey. When he got there, he tapped lightly on the door not wanting to disturb the room's inhabitants. He slowly pushed the door open to find the lights dimmed. Addison was in the bed with machines hooked up to her. On the sofa in the corner Hailey was curled up fast asleep with her hair covering her face. In a chair sitting close to Addison's bed, was who he assumed to be Matt—Addison's fiancé.

At the sound of the door moving Matt looked up. In the doorway stood a man he had only seen in pictures. "You must be Derek," Matt said. He pushed a strand of hair out of Addison's face before he stood up. "Maybe we should talk outside."

Derek and Matt stepped outside the room before either spoke again. "So you are Matt, then." Derek said extending his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

Matt shook Derek's hand as well. "I was hoping it would not be like this though. I have heard a lot about you."

"I hope what you heard was good." Derek smiled.

"For the most part."

"How are they?" Derek asked.

"Addison is stable and she hasn't gotten any worse. I suppose that's a good sign. Hailey, as you saw, is exhausted. She could hardly stop crying all night. She ate breakfast with Morgan in the cafeteria, or I should say she attempted to eat. When I found her, she had a bowl full of soggy cereal in front of her. She fell asleep as soon as she came back to the room. I've been trying to get her to go to the hotel or to Morgan's to try and get some rest. I know that sofa isn't comfortable; she's too tall for it. But Hailey is stubborn." Matt explained.

Derek stood there and looked at the man standing in front of him. He was taller than he was. He continued to stare at Matt and saw that he was distraught. His hair was disheveled and his clothes were a mess. He had circles underneath his eyes and it looked like he had at one point been crying as well. From the concern in his voice when he had talked about Hailey, Derek deduced this man really loved Addison and thought of Hailey as his daughter as well.

"I think I'm going to go get some coffee. I'll be back in about fifteen minuets." Matt said as he walked off. He was giving Derek some time alone with Hailey, and for that Derek was grateful.

He walked back in the room, as quietly as he had before. Hailey stirred.

"Dad?" she asked as she began to rub her eyes.

Derek was surprised she had called him that. _Maybe she's not that uncomfortable with the idea after all._ Derek thought.

"Morning Hailey." Derek said as he sat down next to her.

Having finished rubbing the sleep out of her eyes she looked at the man sitting next to her. "Oh, Hi Derek."

He was hurt, Derek thought she had been talking to him when she said "dad." He brushed off the feeling; right now was not the time to discuss this. "How are you doing Hailey?"

"Not good, not good at all. Last night I almost lost the two most important people in my life and I was oblivious. I was sitting around a table, your table, laughing and having fun talking with you, Morgan, Jake and Laura. What kind of person am I?" Hailey asked as she looked into his eyes. "None of this was supposed to happen. We came out here to celebrate Morgan's birthday and here we are instead in a hospital room praying that my mom wakes up." Hailey was on the verge of tears.

Derek wrapped an arm around her as a way to comfort her, but she only began to cry harder. "No one meant for any of this to happen. It was an accident. Hailey, Addison is going to be fine. You just have to wait." Derek explained.

"How can anyone know that? What do you care, it's not like you ever loved her anyway?" Hailey stood up her long legs crossed the room in a few strides. She was pacing.

Derek was hurt that his daughter thought that about him. It was obvious to him that the two of them needed to have a long conversation. Right now, however, was to get her to calm down. He could see that she was going to start hyperventilating again. "Hailey, you need to calm down." Derek suggested.

"Why? Why should I listen to you? You don't even know me. My mother could be dying and you're telling me to calm down!" Hailey was furious; the stress was beginning to get to her. Her breathing started to come in short breaths. Then she was barley breathing at all.

"Hailey, please if for nothing else than to remain standing calm down and take deep breaths." Derek pleaded. At the rate she was going Hailey would not be breathing for long

From the hallway Meredith heard Hailey shouting, and decided to go see what was going on. Matt was also coming back when he heard the voices coming from Addison's room. They both walked into the room, not knowing what to expect.

"Get out! Stay out of my life! I NEVER want to see you again. EVER! YOU! OUT! NOW!" Hailey yelled.

Derek stood there stunned, not knowing what to do. He turned around to see Matt making his way across the room to comfort Hailey, and Meredith standing in the doorway. He walked out with his head bent and his shoulders hunched. His daughter didn't want him in her life.

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Okay another chapter finished. I'm just rollin' them out, mostly because I'm on fall break. As for the Derek-Hailey relationship, you'll have to wait and see. For some reason I felt that everything was going too well for them. I needed a little drama and angst I guess, besides Hailey's under a lot of stress. I think this may be my favorite chapter. Let me know what you think.


	17. Let's talk about Hailey

Previously on _Pieces_:

"Get out! Stay out of my life! I NEVER want to see you again. EVER! YOU! OUT! NOW!" Hailey yelled.

Derek stood there stunned, not knowing what to do. He turned around to see Matt making his way across the room to comfort Hailey, and Meredith standing in the doorway. He walked out with his head bent and his shoulders hunched. His daughter didn't want him in her life.

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Hailey backed herself to the closest wall and slumped down onto the floor. She pulled her legs into her body and rested her head on them. Matt walked over and sat down beside her. "Hailey," he said.

"He doesn't know me." Hailey whispered into her legs.

Matt pulled her into a hug and laid his head on top of hers. "Hailey, he hasn't had the chance to really get to know you. I know you, but it took some time for that to happen."

Hailey looked up into his brown eyes knowing what he was saying was true. "He's not my dad."

"Hailey," Matt started.

"He's my father. There's a difference. You are my dad." Hailey explained.

"Hailey, it is possible to have more than one person in your life to consider your dad." Matt reasoned.

Hailey knew what he was saying was true. When she realized what had occurred minuets before between her and Derek, her eyes began to fill with tears. "What did I just do?"

"You've been under a lot of stress in the past twenty-four hours; he'll understand." Matt said.

"Are you sure about that? I mean I said some awful things."

"If he doesn't understand, but he probably does, than you have nothing to be sorry about."

Hailey and Matt remained on the floor for awhile, taking comfort in knowing the other was there.

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Derek pushed his way through the hospital until he found an empty on call room. He sat down in the stray chair and ran his fingers through his hair. It wasn't too long before the door opened to reveal Meredith in a pair of scrubs.

"Derek, I heard the fight," she stated sitting down on the bed.

"I think the whole hospital did Mer. What do I do now? Hailey doesn't want me in her life; she already has a dad."

"Derek, I don't know what you should do. What I do know is that right now she is going through hell. It looks like she is clinging to whatever, or in this case, whoever is familiar. She's under a lot of stress. Give her some time." Meredith suggested.

"Maybe you're right. I should give her some space and let everything calm down."

Meredith and Derek sat in silence for awhile, neither knowing what to do or say. Meredith was surprised when an hour later neither of their pagers had gone off. "Do you want to go grab something to eat?" She asked.

"Yeah I'm starving." They both got up and left the room, making their way to the cafeteria.

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After sitting on the floor for a couple of hours, Matt began to get up. Hailey looked at him, her head cocked to one side wondering why he was getting up.

"What?" Matt asked amused by the look she was giving him.

"You're getting up."

"Yeah, my butt hurts. Tile flooring is in no way comfortable." Matt stretched out his hand to help Hailey off of the floor. She took it and he pulled her up.

"Are you feeling better now?" Matt asked.

"I guess. I'm hungry," Hailey stated.

Matt opened his mouth to respond but stopped when he heard the sheets rustle. Both Matt and Hailey turned to look at Addison whose eyes were now open.

"Hey, did I miss anything?" Addison smiled.

"You're okay. O thank God you're okay!" Hailey cried as she hugged her mom, being careful not to hurt her or get tangled up in the wires.

"I've been better." Addison stated. She wrapped her arm around Hailey and kissed her forehead.

After mother and daughter stopped greeting each other, Hailey remained on the bed. Addison looked at Matt who stood at the foot of the bed with the corners of his mouth upturned.

"Hey you," Matt said.

"Hey yourself. You know I think the cast suits you." Addison joked.

"Thanks," he rolled his eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a semi." She stated.

"Not even," Matt said.

Hailey looked between her mother and Matt realizing they needed some alone time. "I'm going to go tell a nurse you're awake. Then I've got to call Morgan."

After Hailey left the room, Matt sat in her vacant spot. He leaned down and gently kissed Addison. "I thought I lost you there for a second Addi." He said as he pulled his whole body onto the bed. Addison rested her head on his chest after he put his arm around her.

"You couldn't get rid of me even if you tried Matt. I'm not going anywhere especially not right now. I've got Hailey's graduation to go to as well as a wedding to plan." She said.

"I know. That's what I told Hailey. But for a little while, I didn't believe it. Addi, you were unconscious when the EMTs arrived. You lost a lot of blood and you coded on the table." Matt whispered.

Addison looked up and saw the tears in his eyes. "Matthew, I'm here now." She snuggled closer to him. With his un-casted hand, Matt held hers and rubbed soft circles on her skin.

"Addison Montgomery do you have any idea how much I love you?" Matt asked as he positioned himself to look into her eyes.

"Just as much as I love you." Addison responded. It was their "thing." It was something they said to each other when they were miles apart or they felt the other just needed to hear it.

Matt placed another kiss on Addison's forehead before changing the subject. "Hailey is not okay right now."

"What happened?" Addison asked.

"Derek tried to comfort her and she got upset. She said some things she's already regretting." Matt explained.

"She needs to find a studio." Addison stated. She knew her daughter. Whenever Hailey was in a stressful situation, she had a bad habit of saying things she shouldn't. She also knew that the only way to have Hailey not go completely off of the deep end was to get her to dance. Addison smiled at the thought. _Everyone has their own way of __alleviating stress. For me sitting in the nursery helps. Matt needs a good book. My daughter needs to dance._ Addison thought to herself.

"I'll talk to Morgan later and see where she can go. You should probably get some rest. I'm going to find your daughter." Matt said getting out of the bed. By the time he reached the door Addison had already fallen into a light slumber.


	18. Low Traffic Hallway

Morgan walked into the hospital looking for Hailey. Instead, Matt was the first person she ran into in the halls of Seattle Grace.

"Matt, hey" Morgan said as she walked up to him.

"Hey Morgan, happy birthday, sorry I didn't get to tell you earlier." He said

"Thanks. Hailey said her mom woke up."

"She did. When I left, she had fallen back asleep though."

"Oh, well I've got a card but if she's not awake I don't want to disturb her." Morgan said showing Matt the envelope. "Have you seen Hailey?"

"Last time I saw her she was going to call you and to let a nurse know that Addison was awake, sorry."

"That's okay. I know this hospital like the back of my hand I'll find her." Morgan turned and began to walk away.

"Morgan," Matt called before she had gone too far. She stopped and he caught up with her. "I was wondering if you can get Hailey out of this hospital for awhile."

"I'll see what I can do but you know she's stubborn. She is not going to leave willingly."

"Take her to a dance studio, or some place with a lot of space for her to dance. Usually when she's upset, she dances. It works for her," Matt said.

"I'll see what I can do then. I'm going to go find Hailey." Morgan smiled then walked off again.

Morgan found Hailey in the first place she checked—a low traffic hallway. The lights were dimmed and she was sitting with her legs crossed on an abandoned gurney. Her eyes were closed and her head leaned back against the wall. It was obvious she wanted to be alone. But Morgan was not about to leave.

"Hailey, what's going on?" Morgan asked climbing onto the gurney as well.

"Nothing and everything at the same time. I just need to be alone right now Morgan, so could you please go away," she pleaded not moving from the position she was in.

"Not gonna' happen." The two sat in silence for awhile before Morgan once again spoke up. "I ran into Matt when I got here."

"Oh."

"He's worried about you Hailey, we all are. I don't know what happened but you look worse now than you did when I left this morning. And now your mom is awake. What happened?"

Morgan's question was met with silence. "Hailey let's go," Morgan said as she got off of the gurney. Hailey made no effort to move.

"Come on Hailey. You desperately need a shower and a toothbrush." Morgan pulled Hailey off the gurney and proceeded to drag her down the hall. Hailey did not protest too much. She just allowed Morgan to pull her along.

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I know this is a short chapter and so is the next one. Just deal with it for now. You'll understand why I separated them after you read the next one.


	19. Dad to Father

After talking to Morgan, Matt went in search of Derek. He felt like the two of them needed to have a conversation. Matt found Derek sitting in the cafeteria eating lunch with a woman with dirty blonde hair. To him, the two seemed very close and Matt assumed the woman was his wife. He didn't want to disturb what looked like an intimate lunch, but he needed to talk with Derek.

Matt walked up to the couple and cleared his throat. Both the woman and Derek turned and looked at Matt.

"Matt," Derek said surprised to see the man outside of Addison's room. "This is my wife Meredith."

Meredith stuck out her hand and Matt shook it. "It's nice to meet you Meredith."

Meredith smiled, "Thanks."

"Derek, if you don't mind could we talk?" Matt asked.

Derek looked to Meredith who had already stood up. "It's okay Derek, I've got patients anyway. I'll see you later." Meredith then left the table.

Matt sat in one of the chairs across from Derek who stared at the other man with a grimace. The two men sat in silence, Derek wondering what Matt wanted to talk about and Matt trying to figure out how to start the conversation.

"Hailey is stressed," Matt said.

"I can see that," Derek responded.

"When she gets stressed she says things she doesn't mean," Matt explained.

"So you heard our conversation?" Derek asked.

"Yeah I heard the last part."

"I thought you would be happy she doesn't want me in her life, especially since she calls you 'dad.' How long has that been going on?" Derek spat. It wasn't that he didn't like Matt. He was sure if under different circumstances the two could be friends. But the man sitting across the table from him had the unconditional love that he wanted from his daughter and he was green with envy.

"Is that what you really think Derek?" Matt asked surprised that he would say something like that considering they had just met each other only hours before. "Hailey didn't start calling me that until last night. I didn't ask her to, she just did. I have no problem with that because I love Hailey. She is the daughter I never had. I want her to have a relationship with you because she will regret it if she doesn't. I know. I've been in Hailey's situation myself. Derek you don't know me, so don't make assumptions. If you must know I've been on your side since the day Addi informed me that you had no clue she was pregnant when she left Seattle almost nineteen years ago. You don't even know the number of times I suggested she tell you about Hailey since we started dating. But if this is how you act when you're with Hailey, I can see why she said the things she did."

Derek sat quietly with his head bent and eyes focused on his hands. He was only a little ashamed of his behavior. He had taken in everything Matt was saying but he could not come up with a response.

Matt continued with his speech when he realized the man across from him had nothing to say. "Hailey's got to learn how to juggle the relationship she has with me and the one she will have with you. You need to understand that you can't expect her to just love you because you helped give her life. It doesn't work that way. It takes time for that bond to be built. At the moment, you're just another person in her life who wants her attention."

Derek looked up for the first time and looked at Matt. "You said you'd been in Hailey's situation?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, my mom remarried when I was fifteen. My biological father never knew about me until I looked him up. I was the same age that Hailey is now and considered not looking for him at all. My step-dad, to whom I'd given the title 'dad,' convinced me otherwise. I'm glad he did."

"Why are you doing this?" Derek asked.

"I told you already. I love Hailey, and it's what's best for her. Don't let her push you away. She needs her space right now." Matt explained once more.

"Now what do I do?" Derek asked.

"You wait, but not too long. The best time to talk to her may be tomorrow. It all depends whether or not Morgan found a studio."

Derek looked at the man confused.

"Don't ask," Matt smiled as he stood up. "I'm going to check on Addi. Think about everything I said alright."

Matt left the cafeteria, and Derek watched him go. _How could he be so supportive of this relationship? _Derek asked himself. _I know if Laura or Jake's biological parents came back into their lives, asking for a relationship with them, I'd say there is no chance in hell. _Derek thought. He continued to sit at the table with his head in his hands. He envied Matt more than ever at that moment, because he was so accepting of the situation they were in.


	20. Studio

Another short one but the next makes up for it.

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Hailey sat in the car with a frown on her face. She was furious. Morgan dragged her out of the hospital and into the car and proceeded to drive back to the Yang-Burke residence.

"Kidnapping's a crime. You know that don't you Morgan." Hailey said. She hadn't wanted to leave while her mother was still at the hospital.

"I am not kidnapping you. Besides you'll thank me later." Morgan pulled into the driveway and got out of the car. When she saw that Hailey was still sitting in the car, she opened the passenger side door. "Are you coming in or not?"

"I'm not getting out until you drive me back to the hospital." She stated and then glared at her best friend.

Morgan rolled her eyes and slammed the door. She then walked into the house and up the stairs to her room. Morgan dumped the contents of Hailey's suitcase onto her bedroom floor and picked out the things she thought Hailey would need. She then went to her own closet and grabbed some stuff for herself as well. After grabbing all of her CDs she would practice ballet to, she threw everything in a duffle bag and went back out to her car.

"What's that for?" Hailey asked too curious to remember she was supposed to be mad.

"You'll see." Morgan replied.

Hailey stared out the window while Morgan drove. She loved going to different places and learning new routes, around every corner she discovered something different. As she thought about what the buildings around her held, she realized that this was not the way to the hospital.

"Morgan, where are we going?"

"I told you wait and see."

"And I told you I'm not getting out of the car unless we go back to the hospital!" Hailey yelled. She didn't like being out of the loop.

Morgan rolled her eyes and pulled into the parking lot of a large building. She got out of the car and took the duffle bag from the back seat. "Come on Hailey."

"I'm not getting out!"

Morgan rolled her eyes again and disappeared into the building. Hailey sat wondering how long Morgan would stay in there before she realized there was no way she was getting out of the car. It had only been a few minuets before Morgan returned with nothing in her hands. She made her way back to the car and opened Hailey's door. She proceeded to unbuckle Hailey's seat belt.

"What are you doing?" Hailey asked confused.

Morgan stood up. "Since you won't come voluntarily, I guess I'll have to drag you into the building." She grabbed her friend and pulled her out. It was easy for Morgan because her friend was so light.

"Stop! I'll go, but I'm not going to enjoy whatever it is we are about to do in there." Hailey explained as she pulled her arm from Morgan's grip.

Morgan walked into the building with Hailey close behind. She opened the door to a locker room where the items that were in the duffle bag were now placed on the bench. Hailey recognized her stuff. "How did you know I brought my ballet stuff?"

"Because you never go anywhere with out it. Hurry up and change. I only have the space for an hour." Morgan said as she began to change as well.

"Thanks Morgan." Hailey said as she also started changing clothes.

"Don't thank me. It was your mom's idea and Matt gave me the money in case I needed to bribe someone. I just drove." Morgan explained.

"Yeah, but you got me out of the car, that's not something anyone can do. Usually if I don't want to do something I don't do it."

"Hailey I didn't convince you to get out of the car, I more or less dragged you. That is physical labor, and I'm charging Matt an extra twenty bucks for that." She smiled at her best friend trying to lighten the mood.

"What ever Morgan," Hailey smiled in return and stuck her tongue out. She was grateful to have so many people who cared about her well being.


	21. Amazing

So I don't know how fast I'll be updating because classes start again Monday (today is Saturday) and I'm going to the fair tomorrow. But I think eight chapters in two days is pretty damn good what do you think. As always reviews and suggestions are welcome. On with the chapter

–anglchild

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It was almost three and Derek was done for the day. It had been a surprisingly light day when it came to surgeries. He had spent most of the day filling out charts and doing rounds, when he wasn't having serious conversations. Derek went and looked for his wife after he changed out of his scrubs. He found her at the nurse's station talking to Izzie.

"Hello Izzie, Meredith." He said walking up to the two women.

"Hey Derek. Bye Mer." Izzie said as she vacated her position next to Meredith.

"Hi Derek. How'd the rest of your day go?" Meredith asked.

"It was pretty boring. I only had one surgery today. I spent most of the time thinking about what Matt said to me earlier."

"Oh, how did that conversation go?"

"I believe he thinks I'm an ass." Derek replied.

"What did you do Derek?"

"It's nothing. What time do you get off?" He asked changing the subject.

"Not until six. Are you leaving?"

"Yeah. I think I'll pick up the kids."

"Derek, we only brought one car today. How am I supposed to get home?"

"Do you think Izzie would mind? I mean she is one of your closest friends." Derek suggested.

"I'll ask her. If she can't, you will be picking me up later." She said poking her finger in his chest for emphasis.

"I love you too Meredith. I'll see you tonight." Derek said as he turned to leave. Meredith smiled and continued on with her work.

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Derek arrived at Jake's school first. He usually stayed in a late day program and took the later bus home. By then Derek or Meredith was at the house. Derek got out of the car and walked into the building to find his son's class. The children were coloring when Derek stopped to look in. Jake was sitting in the back with one of his classmates having an animated conversation. Derek smiled at the scene. Ms. Hayborn, the after school care teacher, looked up from her work and noticed Derek standing in the door. "Dr. Shepard, I didn't know you were picking Jake up today. We didn't get a note," she said as she stood to shake his hand.

"I know. It was an impromptu decision. I finished up at the hospital a little early and decided to come get Jake." Derek explained.

"I understand," She replied. "Jake time to go."

Jake looked up and saw his dad and ran to greet him. "Hey dad!"

"Hey Jake go get your bag so we can pick up your sister." Derek said after he bent down to his son's level.

"Which one?" Jake asked innocently.

Derek had to turn his head away from his son. The memory of his earlier conversation with Hailey came to mind. He couldn't deal with it. He put on a fake smile and looked back at Jake. "We're going to pick up Laura, and then we're going home."

"Alright." Jake went back to the hooks and grabbed his bag. Father and son walked out of the classroom hand in hand.

Fifteen minuets later they were sitting in the car outside of Laura's school. She was not outside like she said she would be when Derek called her before he left the hospital. He started to dial her number again when he saw her run out of the building.

"Hey dad, sorry I'm late," she said as she got into the car.

"It's alright Laur. How'd school go today?" He asked as he put the ca in drive.

"It was the same as always."

"Really?" Derek asked not buying it.

"Yes. The same. I went to class had lunch and went to more classes the end. What time is Morgan's dinner again?"

"It's been canceled." Derek said.

"What did Morgan do this time to have her birthday dinner canceled?" Laura laughed. Morgan was always getting herself into trouble doing stupid stuff and it was no surprise that her dinner had been canceled.

"Morgan didn't do anything Laur."

"Then why's it canceled?" Laura asked confused.

"Hailey's mom and her mom's fiancé were in a car accident last night. Her mom didn't wake up from surgery she had last night until a little before lunch today." Derek explained.

"Oh, what about Hailey, how is she?" Laura asked wanting to know if there was anything she could do to help her new sister.

"I'm not sure. I only talked to her briefly."

"I want to see her, dad." Laura said.

"I don't know Laur. She's been stressed. I don't even know if she's still at the hospital."

"Please dad?" Laura begged.

"I'll see what I can do. This is the last I want to hear about it though. I'll let you know what she says after I get in contact with her okay."

"Alright."

When they got back to the house, Derek called Meredith at the hospital.

Meredith answered her phone after looking at the caller ID. "Hey. Derek did you get the kids?"

"Yeah. Listen could you find Matt and give him the phone?" Derek asked.

"Sure," Meredith went to Addison's room where she found her and Matt laughing at something she just said.

When the door opened, Matt and Addison looked up. Meredith gave a strained smile at the couple. "Matt Derek wants to talk to you,"

"Okay, I'll be back Addi." He said getting up from his chair at her bedside.

"Don't worry, not like I'm going anywhere."

Meredith handed Matt the phone. "Hello?" He said.

"Matt, I need a favor?" Derek said.

"What do you need?" Matt asked.

"Laura wants to see Hailey, but I don't think I could get her to talk to me. Plus I don't have a phone number for her."

"I can't talk to Hailey right now. She's with Morgan. If you tell Hailey Laura wants to see her she'll let her, no matter how mad she is at you." Matt explained.

"Thank you Matt." Derek said.

"Welcome, bye." Matt hung up the phone and gave it back to Meredith.

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After his phone conversation with Matt, Derek called Morgan's cell phone.

"Hello?" Morgan asked as she gasped for breath.

"Hey Morgan it is Derek. You sound like you just ran a marathon."

"Yeah, well I'm pretty out of shape. Hailey and I are dancing and we just started." Morgan explained.

"Can I talk to her?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, hold on." There was only the sound of music in the background as Morgan handed Hailey the phone.

"Hello?" Hailey asked.

"Hailey it's Derek. Before you hang up the phone Laura wanted to know if she could see you sometime today."

Hailey thought for a little while before giving a response. "Sure you guys can come over to the studio now. After we finish I'm forcing Morgan to take me back to the hospital."

"Okay then. Where are you guys at?"

"Morgan said it's the place she used to dance at. She said you should know where it is. We're only going to be here for another 45 minuets though."

"I'll be there in fifteen bye." Derek hung up the phone and went in search of Laura and Derek.

He walked into Laura's room to find her listening to music and doing math homework. "Hey," he called. She looked up from what she was doing and removed her headphones. "Let's go." Derek walked out of the room with a confused Laura following him.

"Where are we going?" Laura asked.

"To see Hailey. Where's your brother?"

"I'm right here." Jake appeared in front of Derek and Laura with his jacket and shoes already on.

The three of them got into the car. It only took them ten minuets to get to where they were going. There were only a few other cars in the parking lot, including Morgan's. Derek parked the car next to Morgan's and they all got out.

"What are we doing here, this is a dance studio?" Laura said.

"This is where they're at." Derek said. He walked in and asked the desk manager where Hailey and Morgan were. He pointed the trio down a hallway.

When they got to the room, Derek opened the door and the three walked in. Morgan noticed them from where she was sitting on the floor. She smiled and held her fingers to her lips and waved them in. In the center of the room was Hailey in a black leotard, with her red hair pulled into a tight bun. All of her focus was on the dance moves she was executing in time with the music. Derek, Jake and Laura all stood in awe as they watched her dance.

"She is amazing." Laura said as her eyes followed Hailey's movements.

"Yeah she is." Derek said. When everyone said Hailey was an amazing dancer, they were not lying.


	22. Raindrops

Okay I'm back, with a new penname as well. Here's to another chapter. My New Year's Resoulution: complete this story! Hope you like it.

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When the music stopped, so did Hailey. She looked around at the small audience she had acquired. Sitting in the corner by the door were Morgan, her brother and sister, and Derek. She gave a week smile to the four of them as she headed over to where they were seated.

"That was sooooo cool," Jake said.

"Thanks,"

"I heard about your mom and Matt," Laura said. "I wanted to make sure you were okay and everything."

"Thanks, I'm a little better now. My mother is a genius when it comes to finding ways to calm me down. Although, I now need a shower more than I had before we left the hospital." Hailey laughed at her last comment and Morgan's expression.

"Well then I suppose we should allow you ladies the chance to attend to your needs then huh?" Derek said.

"That would be the smart thing to do," Morgan smiled as she gathered up the few things they brought into the room.

The five of them walked out of the dance studio and into the hallway. Derek, Laura and Jake turned toward the exit, but before they left, Laura spun back around. "Hey," she yelled toward the figures of Hailey and Morgan. "Maybe we should get some food or something when you guys are done cleaning up."

"I kind of wanted to get back to the hospital as soon as possible." Hailey stated.

"Oh," Laura turned around defeated.

"I have an idea. How about Jake and I go get dinner and bring it to the hospital. I'm pretty sure your mom is not going to even attempt to eat the hospital dinner, and Matt, like you probably hasn't eaten much today either." Derek suggested.

"What about me?" Laura asked noticing that she had been left out of going to pick up food.

"Well I figured you might want to hand out with Morgan and Hailey for a while."

"You can stay Laura, but I mean as soon as we're done here we're going to the hospital. It's not like we'll be doing anything fun." Hailey explained.

Laura looked from her dad to Hailey and then back at her dad. "I think I'll hang with Hailey and Morgan."Derek smiled, "I thought that's what you'd say. Come on Jake, lets go get food."

"Why does Laura get to stay and I don't?" Jake whined as they made their way out of the building.

"Because Laura is a girl, and she's older."

"But daddy I'm a big boy!" Jake exclaimed climbing into the back seat of the car.

"Yes, you are Jake but sometimes girls need to have their time together, and Laura asked to see Hailey after I told her what happened to her mom." Derek closed Jake's door.

"I want to stay too!" Jake dragged out the "o" in an attempt to get his point across.

"I'm sorry Jake." Derek said as slammed his own door shut. He drove in silence for a while. Every now and then, he looked at Jake in the rear view mirror. The six year old had his arms crossed, his eyebrows furrowed and his lip poked out. "You know Jake we are on a very important mission." Derek said.

"What kind of mission." Jake was doubtful that his father's mission was anything important at all.

"Well, we have to figure out what kind of food to take to the hospital. It is a hard task you know. We had Chinese last night and pizza the night before that. What other food can we bring?"

"Spaghetti!" Jake suggested.

"I don't know Jake."

"Umm Lasagna!"

"I'm sensing a pattern here. You want Italian don't you?" Derek asked.

"Yup."

"Well how about we go to Laura's favorite Italian restaurant and see if they'll be able to handle our order." Derek suggested.

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The car ride to the hospital was quite. Morgan focused on driving in the Seattle rain and Hailey was in her own world, while Laura just didn't know what to say. She looked out the window and watched the raindrops slide down, each one leaving its own trail that would sometimes merge into others while other drops avoided each other completely. In a way, she saw an initial path of a raindrop as her life. The other raindrops were the people in it. She considered the raindrops that merged early on her parents, the ones that avoided it her biological parents. The particular droplet that most recently merged into her little life was on the verge of bolting. It had yet to decide whether or not it would remain. Laura wondered if the raindrop was Hailey and if it was predicting what her new found sister would do. She hoped not. At that moment Laura was terrified that she was about to loose the one person she felt understood her most. She didn't know where these feelings came from, or whether or not there was an ounce of evidence to base these feelings on.

When they got to the hospital, the three girls got out of the car. Morgan started walking to the entrance, not noticing that her best friend and god sister were lagging behind. Hailey had noticed Laura's silence a few minuets before they had arrived at the hospital, and as much as she wanted to see her mother, she knew that she needed to have a conversation with her little sister. She looked at her sister as they stood facing each other outside of the car. It was obvious that Laura was not happy. There was a trail of dried tears that streaked her face.

"Laura are you okay?" Hailey asked concerned.

"Umm, yeah I'm fine. I was just thinking, and… well nevermind." Laura hugged herself as she began her trek to the entrance. Her whole body bent against the now heavy rain that came down.

Hailey looked up and saw Morgan standing in the window watching the two sisters. Before Laura reached the doors Hailey called out to her. "Laura wait up." She jogged and stopped next to her sister. "Well, the day is almost over and I know Morgan hasn't had any cake. Do you think you could call your dad and ask him to bring one? So we can kind of celebrate, it is her birthday."

Laura realized then why she was afraid her sister would leave and never come back. She had felt the tension between her dad and Hailey at the studio but wrote it off to Hailey being under a lot of stress, but now she didn't know. Did Hailey even want her dad in her life? Did she want any of them in her life? "He's your dad too Hailey." Laura stated as she started walking again, leaving a confused Hailey in her wake.

Hailey closed her eyes and shook her head, _No he'__s not, a__t least not yet._ She thought to herself and followed Laura.

Laura turned around after they had both made it safely into the hospital doors and out of the rain. "Yeah , I'll tell him." Laura said. She then left Hailey and Morgan to look for her mother. She needed a shoulder to cry on.

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Okay so another chapter complete and another chapter closer to the end.


	23. I Will Survive

Another chapter for you guys…

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Meredith had just found herself beginning to fall asleep from a long day of surgeries, when the door to the on call room was lazily pushed open. She paid no attention to the footsteps of whoever it was coming into the room. The sound of the wheels on a rolling chair sliding across the tile floor interrupted her thoughts. She didn't open her eyes; she just waited.

"Mom," the voice sniffled.

Meredith opened her eyes and turned her head toward Laura. Her daughter's brown hair was soaking wet, along with her clothes. The light make up that Meredith allowed her to wear, had tear streaks running through them. Meredith was confused.

"Laura what's wrong?"

"I…I don't think Hailey wants to be apart of our lives." Laura wiped a tear that dared to fall off of her cheek.

"Sweetie, what makes you think that?"

"She doesn't call daddy 'daddy' or 'dad' or even 'father.' To her, he's just Derek, and if dad's just 'Derek' to her, what does that make me, just 'Laura,' the girl her biological father and step-mother decided to adopt? I was starting to feel like I have a sister, even if I have only known her for forty-eight hours. But I've got no blood relation to her at all, so how do I fit in, especially when dad doesn't and half of her is him?" Laura explained with her head bent down.

"Laura," Meredith said. "Look at me." She lifted her eyes up to meet her mother's. "Laura, I'm sure she does not think of you that way."

"How do you know? You don't even like her." Laura accused.

"I know because she would not have asked to meet you if she did not want you in her life. As for not liking her… To be honest Laura I don't even know her."

"Then why, when we were eating dinner last night, did you look at her like she was the bane of your existence?" Laura asked.

Meredith closed her eyes. She had thought she had done a good job of keeping her feelings hidden from her children that night. Laura was never supposed to see the looks she had sent Hailey's way. "Laur, when your father told me about Hailey I was upset. I did not like the idea of Hailey. From what I've seen so far, she is a very nice young lady who's struggling to come to terms with some difficult things in her life right now."

Laura stared at her mother for a while before she made her next comment. "I still think she doesn't want us in her life. If she did, she would call dad 'dad' not Derek."

"Laura, say your biological father decided he wanted to be apart of your life. What would you call him?" Meredith asked, hoping Laura would get the point.

"That's different, mom. I have a dad already."

"No it isn't, not for Hailey. To, Hailey Matt…"

"is her dad," Laura finished as she remembered the conversation she shared with Hailey in the park the day before. She was starting to better understand what Hailey was going through.

"Does that help you any?" Meredith asked.

"Yeah it helps a lot."

"Good, but I still think you need to talk to her." Meredith smiled at her daughter and stroked her now damp hair. "She's still your sister."

"I guess your right."

"You guess I'm right? I'm always right!" Meredith laughed.

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"Knock, knock. And now we're back from outer space, I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face I should have changed that stupid lock, I should have made you leave your key. Had I'd known for just one second that you'd be back to bother me…" Morgan sang as she and Hailey walked into Addison's room.

"Morgan puh-lease," Hailey said.

Morgan stopped a few steps into the room and dramatically threw one hand out and slapped the other to her forehead. "Go on now go, walk out the door just turn around now, 'cause you're not welcome anymore, weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye,Did you think I'd crumble,"

"Morgan!"

"Did you think I'd lay down and die, Oh no, not I,"

"Morgan!"

"I will survive,"

"MORgan!"

"Oh as long as I know how to love, I know I will stay alive, I've got all my life to live, I've got all my love to give, and I'll survive, I will survive"

"MOR-GAN!!"

"hey-hey," Morgan finished the song.

Addison and Matt, who was occupying a chair next to Addison's bed, laughed at Morgan's antics. "You know Morgan you got the first line wrong. It's 'and so you're back,'" Addison noted.

"Yeah we'll it wouldn't have worked because you didn't go anywhere we did." Morgan moved her finger between her and Hailey for emphasis.

"Mom do _not_ encourage her." Hailey said as she plopped down onto a chair next to Matt.

Morgan sat down next to Hailey and rested her head on her shoulder. "You know giving a vocal performance is exhausting. You should pay me." Morgan said.

"You didn't _give_ a vocal performance. What you just did is considered torture by the UN's standards and the Geneva Convention. That was in no way humane. You should be paying us for enduring that." Hailey said as she pushed Morgan off of her shoulder.

Matt looked at Addison who was shaking her head. "You know you two have not changed much since you were eight. You have not matured at all." Addison said.

"And here I thought I was sitting next to two mature adults." Matt laughed.

"I have matured very well, Hailey on the other hand," replied Morgan.

"Hey, I'm not the one singing 'I Will Survive' at the top of my lungs, getting the words wrong no less, and torturing a poor old woman who survived a near fatal car accident." Hailey countered.

"Hailey I'm hurt. You think I'm old?" Addison said feigning a look of shock and sorrow.

"Mom," Hailey said.

"Don't listen to her Addi, your one sexy old lady," Matt smiled.

"Eww, dad please." Hailey said sticking her fingers in her ears. Morgan did the same.

"Gee thanks Matt. It's good to know my fiancé thinks I'm old."

"If you're old I'm old too babe." Matt explained in defense.

"I suppose that makes up for it." Addison smiled at him. "So how did your exercise go Hailey? Feeling better?"

"It was good. I think I got rid of a lot of stress, and I feel much better now. Although, I'm not quite up to taking on the world yet." Hailey said.

"That's good to know. I heard about what happened this morning with Derek, Hailey." Addison said.

"Oh," Hailey looked at her hands ashamed her mother had to hear about something like that coming from her. Hailey knew her mother had raised her better than that, but she just was not able to deal with anything right at that moment.

"We can talk about it later." Addison suggested, effectively closing the subject. "So, I'm starved here, and hospital food sucks. You guys didn't bring any fine cuisine with you?"

"That was Derek's job. He and Jake went to go get dinner for everyone after we got done at the studio." Hailey said.

"So he made it to the studio?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, they were there. Laura came back to the hospital with us, but she got upset. I think she probably went to look for her mom." Morgan said.

"What happened?" Addison asked.

Once again Hailey could not look her mother in the eye. She hadn't done anything wrong per say, but it felt like it. "I think she's mad at me because I call her dad 'Derek.'"

"Hails, you need to talk to her." Addison said.

"And Derek," Matt pitched in.

Hailey ran her hands through her hair. "I know, I know."

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**AU:** So the whole bursting into song thing, something I do on a regular basis. Plus I thought there needed to be some comic relief and it was funny right? Well another chapter yay me! Por favor, review. ¡Muchas gracias!


	24. Smile

When Derek and Jake got to the hospital, the first thing they did was to search for Meredith. They found her still in the on call room with Laura. Mother and daughter were sharing a deep conversation when they walked in.

"Is that dinner?" Meredith asked as she looked up upon their entrance.

"Yeah, for some reason Jake really wanted Italian food." Derek said. "I also got a cake and balloons for Morgan. Is she roaming the hospital?"

"No, I think they went to Hailey's mom's room." Laura answered.

"Good, then we can surprise her."

"Your going to give her cake before dinner?" Meredith asked.

"I don't think anyone will mind that much if we eat dessert before dinner, Mer."

"I don't," Jake said excitedly.

"Well I don't want Jake to think that he can always have dessert before dinner."

"Meredith it is only this one time. Besides it's a special occasion, I think we can let it slide this one time."

"I'm not going to win this argument am I?" Meredith asked.

"Nope."

"Well come on Jake let's go find Morgan's parents. Laura you go tell Hailey what's going on. And Derek, you stay here until we come back." Meredith said taking Jake's hand and heading toward the door.

"I guess that's my key to go huh?" Laura said as she slowly got off of the chair she was sitting on. She followed her mother out of the door.

"Why do I always get stuck with the boring job?" Derek asked the empty room as he placed the food on the table.

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Laura stopped at Addison's door. She was building up the courage to walk in when a tall dark haired man with green eyes walked up behind her.

"Hi did you need something from in here?" He asked as he reached for the door knob.

"Yeah, I was going to get Hailey Montgomery, the nurse said this was her mom's room. Who are you?"

"I'm Matt. You must be Laura, Hailey's told me a little about you."

"Yeah, well…"

"Did you want to come in or do you want me to send her out?" Matt asked.

"Umm could you send her out here?"

"Sure." Matt disappeared into the room.

Laura stood outside the door for a few seconds when it opened again. Hailey stepped out and pulled the door shut behind her. "Hey," she said as she turned to her younger sister who was leaning against the wall.

"Hey, dad has the food and the cake. He wanted to surprise Morgan first with the cake and we can have that first, then the food." Laura explained.

"It sounds like a plan to me. Where are they?"

"My mom went to get Morgan's parents and dad's waiting in an on call room for her to come back with them."

"Did he get balloons too, I forgot to tell him to get balloons too."

"Yeah he got them."

"So, what are you going to do now?" Hailey asked as she leaned against to the wall next to Laura.

"I guess I'll stay here and wait for them."

"You don't want to come in? There's enough room for you to sit and hang out with us while we wait."

"I kind of just want quiet right now." Laura said sliding down to a sitting position.

Hailey copied her actions before she spoke again. "Look, Laura earlier I didn't mean to upset you. And I defiantly don't want to make you uncomfortable with me calling your dad, my father, Derek. I don't know him at all really, and I'm sure he's incredible. He's got to be, look at you and Jake. But I can not call him dad, to be frank he's done nothing for me to earn the privilege of being called dad, maybe one day I'll be able to work it out, but right now I'm doing the best I can. I'm only human."

"I guess… I was scared earlier. I have a sister, someone other than Morgan to talk to. But you don't think of our dad as dad. And if you don't think of him as dad do you think of me as a sister still? I understand a little better now though. I talked with my mom and she made me see things in a different way." Laura explained.

"You'll always be my little sister Laur," Hailey said throwing her arm around her shoulder and pulling her into a hug. "We are family, no matter what anyone says. We may not be the traditional family and live on different sides of the country, but family none the less, no matter what I call Derek aka your dad aka my biological father."

"That's good to know."

Laura and Hailey sat outside together and waited for Derek, Meredith, Jake, Preston, and Cristina to show up with the food and the cake.

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Cristina was walking out of the scrub room when Meredith and Jake spotted her. "Cristina," Meredith called getting her attention.

"Hey, what's up?" Cristina said as Jake and Meredith fell in step next to her.

"Well Derek bought food and while he was out he got cake and balloons for Morgan. We are going to surprise her. I mean her birthday was ruined by what happened yesterday so, Hailey suggested getting a cake."

"Oh, well then let's go."

"Where's Burke?" Meredith asked.

"What do you need?" Preston said as he strolled up behind the two women.

"They got cake and food to celebrate Morgan's birthday." Cristina explained as she followed. Meredith.

"That's great, but where are we going." Preston asked as the four made there way to the on call room Derek was waiting in.

"Daddy's got the cake in here." Jake said as he moved to push the door open.

Derek looked up at the sound of the door. " Hey, what took you so long. I was getting bored in here."

"We did not take that long. Here give me the balloons." Meredith said reaching for the bunch of balloons. "Cristina can carry the cake and you and Burke can bring the food."

"What do I get to do?" Jake asked. Meredith handed him a balloon.

After everyone had received their assigned 'package' to carry to the room, the five of them made their way out into the hospital halls. They garnered awkward looks from the hospital's occupants. When they reached Addison's room, they found Hailey and Laura sitting on the floor.

"Hey," Hailey said getting up from where she was sitting. "Is that everything?" She asked as she looked at the cake.

"Yeah that's everything." Derek responded.

"The cake looks great." Hailey commented.

"Yeah, good. Maybe we should surprise her already, won't she get a little suspicious of us all standing out here?" Laura said.

"Your right," Hailey said. She put her hand on the knob and twisted. She slowly walked in the door. "Morgan, I found these people looking for you in the hall." Hailey said as she walked in. From behind her Cristina came in with the cake followed by Meredith and Jake holding balloons. Behind them were Preston, Laura and Derek. As everyone walked into the small room the occupants started up a round of "Happy Birthday.'

Morgan looked at the cake her mom was holding. "We would have gotten candles but as you know oxygen is highly flammable so, no candles." Derek said placing the food on the empty night stand.

"You did not have to do this." Morgan told her mom as she took the cake from her.

"Don't look at me. It was all Hailey's idea." Cristina pointed.

"Thanks Hailey."

"It's the least I could do." She smiled and hugged her best friend.

"Hailey, Morgan" Matt called from Addison's side.

The two looked over to where he stood. "Smile," He said as the camera flashed.

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**AN**So I am thinking there will be two more chapters to go. Suggestions are still welcome though.


	25. The Heart of the Matter

**AN**: So I know the title is the same as one of the recent episodes, but i love the song and i think it fits you'll see.

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After everyone had finished eating their cake and dinner, they all went their separate ways, leaving only Hailey, Addison and Matt in the room together. As soon as the room was empty, Addison fell asleep, exhausted from all of the earlier excitement.

"So are you sleeping here at the hospital, at Morgan's or at the hotel tonight?" Matt asked picking up some of the empty bags.

"I'm not sure. I need to talk to Derek though." Hailey said helping him clean up.

"That you do. I think you might need a good night's sleep before you speak with him though. You do not want a repeat of what happened this morning now do we?"

"I guess you're right."

"I am," Matt opened the door for Hailey as she stepped out. The halls of the hospital had quieted down tremendously. "What time does your flight leave on Friday?"

"I am not going to leave while mom is still here."

"Yeah you are, you've got school on Monday, and you need the weekend to get back on Eastern Time. I know you Hails, it takes a while for you to get acclimated to a time zone. Remember when we went to Chicago? You slept the entire day and they're only an hour behind."

"What if we compromise? I leave on Saturday instead." Hailey suggested

"What about Friday."

"Daaad," Hailey whined.

"Here me out Hails, you can schedule a later flight on Friday. That is my only offer."

"Fine then. I'll look online to see if I can change my flight. Who's going to pick me up? Mom and I were supposed to get back together."

"You could take a cab, or the subway. You are a New Yorker Hailey." The pair had been walking around the hospital throughout the conversation and found themselves outside sitting on a bench.

"I don't want to go back to the house. I hate being there by myself." Hailey explained.

"You can stay with your grandparents."

"I guess so then. When are you coming back?"

"As soon as they say it is safe for your mom to travel." Matt said.

"I just wish I could stay here with you and mom."

"You still have the last half of your semester. They say this is the most important time of year. If you allow your grades to slip too far, the colleges can withdraw your admission."

"I know."

Hailey and Matt were sitting outside when Derek saw them through the hospital window. The two looked as if they were just enjoying the night together. He was about to keep going when something inside of him told him to go out to the pair and talk with them.

Hailey looked up at the sound of footsteps coming toward them. "I thought you left already," she said confused by Derek's presence.

"Yeah, well I was on my way out the door when an ambulance came in with a woman with a knife in her head. It was surprising she wasn't dead. We had to rush her into surgery once we got her stabilized." Derek explained.

"Oh," was all Hailey could say.

"Are you heading out now?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, just have to get changed why?"

"Could you give Hailey a ride? I'm staying here with Addison tonight." Hailey glared at Matt. She was not quite ready to talk with Derek yet.

"Sure, are you ready now?"

"Umm, I've got to get my things from mom's room. Could you meet me there?"

"Of course."

Thirty minuets later Derek and Hailey were getting into his car together. "Where exactly am I taking you?" Derek asked.

"I guess back to the Burke's place. All of my stuff is there."

"Okay."

The first ten minuets of the ride were silent. Neither Derek nor Hailey knew how to begin the conversation they knew they needed to have. Hailey did not want a repeat of that morning, and Derek did not want to upset her.

Finally, after five more minuets of complete silence, Hailey spoke up. "Derek, this morning I was upset and I took it out on you. I'm sorry I really am I didn't mean what I said. I do want you to be apart of my life." She said as she looked at her fingers in her lap.

"I was hoping you didn't mean it. I understand you were not completely yourself this morning." Derek said.

They sat in silence for a few more minuets before Derek decided to say something. "I did love your mother Hailey. For the longest time she was my best friend. When our careers picked up we got distracted, or at least I got distracted from what really mattered. And well, we both did stupid things to hurt each other, then after that, there was little we could do to fix what was broken. So, your mom left."

"I know that. I know the entire story, trust me I know. She told me that at one point you two were inseparable and that you two did love each other, but I kind of always thought it was her way of making things easier for me. I guess I needed to hear it from you too. Mom wasn't the only one who tried to reassure me that you loved her at one point. Aunt Nancy did too." Hailey explained.

"You know Nancy?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, of course I know Nancy. She and mom are best friends. You would think they were more competitive considering they're in the same field of medicine. But nope best of friends. She used to watch me all the time. One year mom could not get off New Years Eve to spend with me, so Aunt Nancy took me to her parents' house. I met all of her nieces and nephews. For some reason they adored me. I really hit it off with Chloe, even if she was twelve years older than me. I followed her around all night. She's kind of my role model." Hailey said.

Derek shook his head and laughed to himself. He had ostracized himself from his family for years, calling only on holidays and not having very meaningful conversations with them. He couldn't remember the last time he spoke to Nancy. She was not very happy with him for just allowing Addison to leave. He remembered that conversation very well. It consisted of his older sister yelling at him on the phone and then telling him she would not speak to him again until he formed some semblance of a friendship with Addison. She had even given him her address and phone number. Needless to say he never contacted his ex-wife. "Nancy is one of my older sisters."

Hailey was shocked. She never thought the dead beat brother her favorite of her mother's friends always talked about was her father. "You're kidding right?"

"No I'm not. I haven't talked to her in years. I guess now I know why she wanted me to call your mom." Derek explained.

"Yeah I guess you do." They had pulled up to the house, but Hailey remained in the car. She was looking through her bag for something. When she finally looked up from her expedition she held a square shaped envelope in her hand. "Here," she said handing it to Derek.

"What is it?" He asked.

"It's my graduation announcement. There are only two tickets in there, they only gave me four but I was able to convince one of my friends to give me two of hers. Her family is in Japan and they were not able to get tickets to come over for it. If you don't want to you don't have to come. I just… um yeah. Good night Derek." Hailey opened the door and got out of the car.

Derek watched her ring the door bell and wave once she got into the house. Long after she'd gone inside, he sat staring at the announcement:

_Harrow Academy _

_Invites you to celebrate the commencement ceremonies of_

_Hailey Danielle Montgomery-Shepard_

_On the 28__th__ day of May_

She wanted him to be apart of her life.

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**AN: **So only one chapter to go. I made up the school name so don't shoot me and umm… yeah so any last requests for the last chapter. I know how I'm going to end it but suggestions for what she happen before the end/ in the last chapter would be nice. As always thanks for reading and please please please review. Bye


	26. Go Fish

**AN: **So I lied there are 2 more chapters but I needed it to be this way. But they're up on the same way so enjoy…

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Hailey spent the better part of Thursday in her mom's hospital room with Matt. The three talked, watched TV and slept. Late in the afternoon, Matt went back to the hotel to change clothes and take a nap, sleeping on a lumpy hospital couch two nights in a row was not the most comfortable place to sleep for a man as tall as he. While Matt was gone, Hailey and Addison played cards while listening to a soap opera in the background.

"Got any threes?" Hailey asked.

"Go fish. Any eights?" asked Addison after Hailey picked up card from the pile.

"How did you know I just got an eight?" Hailey said as she handed over the card she just removed from the top of the pile.

"Because, I am your mother and I am all knowing. Have any kings?" Addison smiled at her daughter as Hailey rolled her eyes and handed her the king she held in her hand. "Matt told me that Derek took you to Cristina and Preston's house last night. How did that go?"

"It went fine. We talked." Hailey said.

"Have any sixes? You talked? What did you talk about?"

"Ha! Go fish." Hailey smiled. "I apologized for yelling at him yesterday morning. And he told me the same thing you did and the same thing Aunt Nancy did. Got any queens?"

"Go fish. What do you mean what I told you?"

"You know about the two of you being friends and stuff. Got any fives?" Hailey said after she put down a pair.

"Oh. Go fish. Got any threes?" Addison asked with a sly smile on her face.

"You said you didn't have any threes," Hailey said pointing an accusing finger at her.

"Well I didn't when you asked, but I do now."

Hailey handed her mother the three she had in her hand and continued their conversation. "Why didn't you tell me that Aunt Nancy really is my aunt?"

"Hailey, there are a lot of things that I regret doing, and that is one of them. Telling you that she was your aunt meant that I had to tell the rest of Derek's family, which then meant that they would tell Derek and I wasn't ready for that."

Hailey put all of her cards down, realizing that they would not be able to have this conversation while playing Go Fish. "So did Aunt Nancy know?"

"Yeah, she was the first person I told when I got back to New York. I had to beg her not to call Derek and tell him, and you know I do not beg. But, I didn't want him coming back to be with me because I was pregnant. We both deserved better than that. I had already been an obligation once and being in that situation hurt like hell. I never wanted you to feel like that. That's also part of the reason I never told the rest of Derek's family. They would have respected my wishes, but they would have been able to convince him to move back to New York for other reasons. Then they would some how have set up a way for him to find out which, brings me back to square one." Addison explained.

"They would really have done that?"

"You come from a family of sneaky people, who when they think they need to do something, they will do everything possible to get it done."

"I guess I can understand that." Hailey looked at the cards she had put down and sighed. "I'm tired of playing cards, and there is nothing on TV besides 'The Price Is Right' and re-runs."

"So am I. You would think Matt would be back by now." Addison said copying her daughters movements and putting the cards on the table. "Matt told me you're flight leaves around 7 so that puts you in New York on Saturday morning."

"Yeah. He refused to let me catch an early flight out on Saturday instead. Why is that man so so…" Hailey searched for the right word to describe Matt.

"Amazingly perfect in every way?" Matt said as he stepped into the room.

"That is _not_ what I was going to say," Hailey said as she spun her head around and stuck out her tongue.

"And once again you have proved your mother right." Matt said.

"In what capacity?" Hailey asked not sure she liked where this was going.

"You have not matured much since you were eight." Hailey looked at Matt with a disbelieving expression on her face and with her index finger on her chest as if to say 'who me.' "Yes you. Did you or did you not just stick you're tongue out at me?"

"I plead the fifth on that." Hailey said.

"I rest my case." Matt said sitting down opposite Hailey and next to Addison. "So, other than childish, how have my two favorite ladies been since I left?" He asked after kissing Addison on the forehead.

"We've been fine. Hailey and I played Go Fish a few times, and of course I won." Addison replied.

"You cheated, I know you did." Hailey accused.

"I would never." Addison feigned innocence.

"Then how did you almost always know the cards in my hand hmm?"

"Mother's intuition." Addison smiled and looked to Matt. "Did you bring us food? Your two _favorite_ ladies are hungry."

"Didn't they send up a meal?" Matt asked.

"Why don't you try eating the hospital food? It's torture. I feel so sorry for every patient I ever encouraged to eat this mess." Addison said.

"Uh Huh." Matt said. "Is Morgan taking you to the airport tomorrow?"

"No. I'm spending the morning with her and I think I'm going to get Derek to drop me off." Hailey said.

"I think that's a great idea. You are coming by here before you leave though right?" Addison asked.

"Of course I am mother. I wouldn't be leaving if your stubborn fiancé wasn't making me." Hailey crossed her arms an pretended to pout.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury I present to you evidence number three. Gaze upon the defendant. Here she sits with her arms crossed in the manner of an upset two year old. Indeed this young woman has not matured past the age of eight." Matt laughed as he held out his hands like Vanna White.

Hailey rolled her eyes. "What ever. I think I'll go in search of Derek and ask him about tomorrow. I'll see you a little later. Love ya." Hailey got up and left the room and walked the hospital halls.

She soon came across 'The Board' and searched for Derek's name. While she stood there the person for whom she was looking walked up behind her.

"Whatcha' doin'?" Derek asked.

"Looking to see if Dr. Shepard is in surgery." Hailey responded not paying attention to who it was that asked the question.

"Why don't you just ask him?" Derek asked amused at Hailey's concentration.

Hailey rolled her eyes and began to turn around as she spoke. "That would be easy if I ..." She glared at Derek's amused expression after she had turned completely around. "You could have just said hey I'm right here."

"Now where would the fun be in that?" Derek asked. "What did you need?"

"Well, I was wondering… Morgan is not taking me to the airport tomorrow, and dad is staying here, although I think this is his way of … well never mind, but if you're not to busy could you drop me off at the airport tomorrow evening?" Hailey blurted.

"Sure, I'd love to. Do you mind if I bring Jake and Laura, I'm sure they'd also love to see you off?"

"Of course they can come. Thanks Derek." Hailey smiled at him. She then turned and walked back to her room, leaving Derek standing where he was.

Derek smiled to himself. It was the first time he had seen Hailey, his daughter, direct her smile toward him. It made him feel good inside.


	27. Leavin' on a Jet Plane

AN: A chapter two years in the making… The End of my story. I had fun writing it (the entire two years) and I would like to thank everyone who ever reviewed and those who stuck with it. So with no further ado…

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The next morning Hailey spent with Morgan and Will going around the mall, looking at nothing in particular. After visiting the hospital, and saying goodbye to her mom, Morgan and Will dropped her off at the Shepard residence, where Derek, Laura and Jake were waiting.

As she got out of the car Jake ran up to her and leaped into her arms. "Hi Hailey," he said excitedly.

"Hey Jake, want to help me get my stuff out of the car?"

"Okay." Hailey handed Jake her lighter book bag that he took inside.

Will pulled out her suitcase and set it on the ground. "What all did you bring, that made this so heavy?" He asked

"Well I pack for every occasion." She smiled.

Derek had stepped out of the house after Jake had disappeared into it. "Hey Will and Morgan."

"Hi Derek. Do you want us to bring her bags in the house?" Will asked looking at the bag he'd just set down.

"No I'll put them in the trunk." Derek opened the trunk of his car and proceeded to put the bag into it.

As he did that, Hailey said her goodbyes. "Will, it was nice to finally meet you. I must tell you though, if you ever hurt her in any way, after her parents kill you bring you back to life then kill you again, I will fly out here. Bring you back to life, torture you and then kill you. After all of that I'd bring you back to life and do it all over again got it?" She said as she hugged her best friend's boyfriend goodbye.

"I think so." He laughed.

Hailey then looked to Morgan whose face was already damp from tears that had made their way down her face. At the sight of her best friend's tears, Hailey's eyes began to tear up as well. "And you," she said pointing to Morgan for emphasis. "Don't you dare forget to call me every single day." The two of them embraced in a long hug.

"Right back at you Hailey. I loved, loved, loved having you here, even if your mom and Matt did get into a car accident." Morgan said releasing her.

"I know. I know. I'm calling you as soon as I get to New York. 'kay?"

"Okay. And we are defiantly hanging out this summer, no doubt about it."

"Most defiantly. I'll see you 'round then." Hailey said as Morgan got into the car.

"Have a safe trip Hailey." Morgan waved her hand out of the window.

"I will. Bye." Hailey stood in the driveway until she could not see the car any more. After it had disappeared, she turned around and walked into the house. They still had an hour before she needed to leave for the airport.

The next sixty minuets she spent with Derek, Laura and Jake going through their family album. "I'll have to send you some of my baby pictures and stuff." Hailey said as they stood up and began to head out the door.

Before anyone could open it, Meredith walked in. "Hey guys, I thought you would be gone already." She said as she looked at her family and Hailey standing in the sitting room.

"We were just about to walk out the door." Derek said.

"Oh, then don't let me stop you." Meredith moved out of the way and watched Derek, Jake and Laura walk out the door.

"Hey Meredith," Hailey said before she turned to leave as well.

"Yeah?"

"It was very nice to meet you. And you're not as bad as Aunt Nancy made you out to be." Hailey hugged the shocked older woman and then walked out the door.

The drive to the airport was uneventful. The four occupants of the vehicle talked about everything, and nothing at all. When they pulled up outside, everyone got out of the car. Derek went to the trunk to get Hailey's suitcase.

"Jake get over here and give me a hug." Hailey told the six year old.

"When are you coming back to visit?" Jake asked after he hugged his new older sister.

"I'm not sure yet." After Jake had gotten back in the car, Hailey then turned to Laura. "You've been quiet all day. And by all day I mean the last hour and a half we've spent together. What's up?"

Laura shrugged her shoulders and hugged Hailey. "Just, don't disappear on me okay. You're my older sister and I need someone to talk to and I love you."

"That really will not happen, Laur. I will call twice a week just to speak to you. And if your parents say its okay, you can spend a week or two with me and my parents during the summer. We can go shopping and I'll take you to see musicals on Broadway. That sounds good to you?" Hailey asked as she squeezed Laura just as hard as she was squeezing her.

"I would love that." Laura smiled. She turned around and sat in the recently vacated front seat.

Hailey and Derek were left standing in front of each other. "Well," Derek said.

"Well, this has been the most interesting vacation I have ever had." Hailey smiled.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"I think its good, except the whole nearly loosing my mom thing, its good. I mean I got to meat my father, and so far he seems like this really great guy." Hailey said.

"Really?" Derek questioned, with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah, but he would be even greater if he bought me a Benz." Hailey smiled.

"That is not going to happen." Derek said.

Hailey hugged Derek. "It was worth a shot right?" The two separated and stood staring at each other once again, neither able to quite grasp that a few days ago, they did not know each other.

"I've got to go. Dad will kill me if I miss my flight." Hailey said. She waved one more time then turned to go.

Before she disappeared into the doors Derek called out her name. "Hailey." She stopped and turned around. "Love you." From where he stood Derek could see the tears that shimmered in her eyes.

"Love ya too Der." She turned back around and went through the doors. Although she'd only known the man for a week, half of which she was mad at him, there was no doubt in her mind that she loved him. If it weren't for him, there'd be no her.

Derek got back into his car after he watched her fade into the sea of people walking through the airport doors. He was happy and felt extremely blessed and lucky at that moment. He had three amazing children. And his eldest daughter loved him, even though his past actions toward her mother left a scar, she still loved him. And that is what made his life so much sweeter than it had been this time a week ago.


End file.
